Undying Gensokyo
by WillieG.R
Summary: A selfish experiment works only too well and Aya and Satori find themselves surrounded by those that cannot die.  Can they solve this incident on their own before losing their minds?  HIGH LEVELS OF GORE.
1. The New World

Gensokyo, paradise to youkai protected by a border that separates it from the materialistic modern world of the humans where magic and faith hangs by a thread thus making it inhospitable to the youkai and gods that need those two energies to survive.

It is generally a peaceful world, though to humans it's a chaotic death-trap, with fairies shooting seemingly harmless bullets at them for mere amusement, countless youkai hunting for human flesh, magicians and such roaming about and doing as they please, and almost no order or laws to subdue this, save for a spell card system.

Our story begins one late afternoon at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which rests on an island on the massive Misty Lake, which rests at the foot of the Youkai Mountain.

The mansion, as its name implies, is painted scarlet red, is surrounded by a large wall with a gate on its front, has very few windows, and has a large clock tower adorning its architecture.

In front of the wall's gate is Hong Meiling who has a straight long red hair, beautiful aquamarine eyes, and wears a green Chinese outfit with yellow borders that compliment her perfect athletic and rather abundant figure, a matching green beret with a star that has the word "Dragon" written on it, and has her well-shaped legs bare for all to see through that slit on her skirt.

As per usual, she's only half awake while standing guard and scratching underneath her ample bosom while one angry-looking maid stares at her.

Sakuya Izayoi, who wears a blue and white maid's outfit, has short silver hair with the sideburns tied into braids and blue eyes, impatiently taps her foot while waiting for the gate guard to notice her.

The maid's eyes glow red as she commands "Meiling, wake up this instant!", and as the scene moves toward the elegant scarlet doors to the mansion's foyer, the gate guard squeals after a light smack.

The inside of the mansion is quite dark, and the only lights available to brighten up the foyer are about three lone lamps; two on the ground and one on top of the stairs leading to the first floor.

There are at least six dark corridors on the ground floor alone, but their insides are so dark it can't be defined to where they would lead should anyone venture into them.

The doors to the foyer open up, and under the archway are Sakuya and Meiling, accompanied by Marisa Kirisame and Nitori Kawashiro.

Marisa wears a black and white witch's outfit with a fuchsia ribbon on her hat and a white apron around her waist, has short blonde hair with the left-side sideburn braided, has yellow eyes, and is currently holding her trademark broom with her right hand while placing its brush on the ground.

Nitori is a small kappa with blue hair tied to twin-tails with red bobbles, has blue eyes, and wears a light blue vest and skirt full of pockets, a dark-blue outfit underneath those, a green cap on her head, and carries a large green backpack with a key tied on the straps which rests between her supple breasts.

Even though she's just been scolded and smacked, the gate guard looks rather calm and content as she welcomes the two girls and says "please don't keep Miss Patchouli waiting."

The maid stares neutrally at the guard and coldly says "I'll take care of them, you go and lock that gate."

With a quick "hai", Meiling salutes the chief maid and rushes back to the gate, while said maid gestures a welcoming hand to the girls and says "please, come this way."

Being familiar with the SDM, Marisa casually looks around with her hands behind her head and her broom lifted upward while saying "you don't need to worry about us. I know this place like the back of my hand, ze."

The maid blinks once to hide the annoyance in her eyes and coldly says "that is exactly why you are to accompany me Kirisame. We still haven't found my lady's training brassiere, so consider this visit a simple truce and nothing else."

Nitori covers her mouth as she chuckles mischievously at the witch, then says "this human has such a bad habit. Stealing girls' undergarments is pretty perverted, even if you **are** a girl too."

The witch blushes and looks away, magically hiding her broom with a quick flick of the wrist while saying "I don't steal anything, I borrow them. Besides, I wouldn't **borrow** anyone's underwear; that's disgusting. This maid just lost the bra and is conveniently pinning the fault on me, da-ze."

Obviously irritated by the comment the chief maid clenches her fist and mutters curses underneath her breath, then somewhat calmly says "THIS WAY PLEASE" while breathing red fire through her nostrils and mouth.

The witch chuckles after the verbal victory, and as she, the fired-up maid, and the oblivious kappa make their way past the stairs and the many large doorways, and head to the smallest one beside the stairs, mentioned blue-haired kappa excitedly says "to think, tonight's the night we change Gensokyo forever!"

Marisa chuckles rather suspiciously as they disappear into the dark corridor, and after getting swallowed up by the darkness the witch says "oh yes. This will be a most exciting night alright."

Sakuya quickly replies "you are acting way too suspicious, you thief."

The witch casually replies "aww you're just too edgy. Seriously, you need a vacation, or a nice strong young man that can satisfy your needs."

The small kappa giggles and says "not that many vacation spots in Gensokyo. There are a few romantic spots, but, hmm. Maybe we should do something about that too."

The irritated maid roars softly, there are two loud smacks and separate yelps, and then says "just keep moving and stay in my sight!"

Marisa and Nitori simultaneously "ooh" and say "**maids are scary.**"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the mansion's library, a place filled with bookshelves and books from bottom to third-floor top, there is quite a lot of movement going on at the time.<p>

Patchouli Knowledge, who wears a pink pajama-like robe over a purple and white sleep dress, soft pink socks, a pink mop hat with buns to the side tied with ribbons and a gold crescent moon on the front, and has long purple hair and purple eyes, takes her seemingly-unfriendly sight away from the red book on her hand to look at a large black iron cauldron in front of her.

The liquid contents of the cauldron are lime-green, when in the book it clearly reads in bold it should be **mint-green**.

The purple magician looks coldly to her left and softly asks "Alice, are you sure you cleaned this cauldron?"

Alice Margatroid, who has short blond hair and blue eyes, and wears a light-blue dress with a white capelet on her shoulders, ties a pink ribbon around her waist and on her head, and holds a large black book with a golden lock on it nods and replies "I most certainly did. I even used the sterilizing spell you suggested."

The purple-haired magician sighs and is about to say the experiment is already a failure, but the liquid bubbles furiously and turns mint-green before everyone's eyes.

She stares curiously at this turn of events, looks into the book, and then says "right, now we have to wait for the kappa to come and bring the rest of the ingredients."

Koakuma, a girl with long silky-smooth red hair, red eyes, bat wings on her back and smaller ones on her head, and whom wears an elegant-looking black and white office suit; which accents her beautiful figure; smiles and mischievously asks "and what would happen if something were to... mess up the experiment?"

Alice and Patchouli stare daggers at the little devil, whom is currently frightened to the death by a streamer gohei that's been placed on her neck, then the blonde magician casually says "we would all die a horrible death and reincarnate as one-eyed earth-worms that will be fed to fishes by angry fishermen."

At the end of the gohei is Reimu Hakurei, shrine maiden and actual 'police' of Gensokyo.

She has dark brown eyes, long black hair tied with a large red ribbon on the back and two red and white tubes on the sideburns, and wears a red vest and skirt, detached white sleeves, a pink shirt underneath her vest, and a blue ascot around the collar of her shirt.

The maiden looks furiously at the little devil and sternly says "and that's precisely why I'm here. To make sure nothing goes wrong, do you understand what I'm saying?"

The terrified little devil nods rapidly and the gohei is slowly removed from her personal space, allowing her one big sigh of relief.

With a subtle smile on her face the seven-days magician says "I take it you'll behave the rest of the night, eh Koakuma?", then her subtle smile quickly vanishes when the front doors of the library open up with a loud bang, and Marisa's obnoxious loud voice echoes all around as she shouts "Patchy~, your guests of honor have arrived!"

Said magician sighs in despair as she places her hand on her face and softly asks herself "why did I agree to this?", then Alice summons Shanghai, a doll with long blond hair and blue eyes that wears a long purple dress with an apron, to comfort the obviously distressed librarian.

A few seconds after Marisa's annoying outburst, Sakuya loudly says "lady Patchouli I have brought them over safely. I'll return to Lady Remilia's side now."

The door closes, the librarian calms down, and now right in front of her are both kappa and witch, and the black and white has that annoying smile on her face as she says "and I see you went ahead and started without us. Good. Now on with the show."

With suspicion in her tone the shrine maiden declares "you are WAY too eager to get started."

The black and white chuckles for a moment, then says "of course I am eager to start this! If this is a success, then I will prove to these two witches here who the best magician amongst us is!"

Nitori giggles, grabs Marisa by the collar of her shirt, and when they are face to disturbingly-smiling face the kappa says "just remember your end of the bargain or I'm putting you on the kappa's black list!"

The witch sweats with fear, though smiles while saying "oi, oi, I didn't forget. Besides, you're my pal. I'd never cross you, ze."

Patchouli groans irritably but softly says "let's just get started before I decided to kick you all out. Really; so noisy."

Unknown to all, hiding behind a dark corner, behind a dusty old bookshelf nearing the second floor is Flandre Scarlet, who wears a red vest and short red skirt, a pink undershirt with puffy sleeves, a white mop cap with a ribbon to the left, and has odd-looking wings made of iron rods with hanging multi-colored glass shards on her back, long blond hair tied to a left-side ponytail, and red vampire eyes.

She watches with both worry and great curiosity at the girls gathered there while thinking "_and there's Marisa. This sure looks like fun, but I can't go down there and play with them. If onee-sama finds me I'll get yelled at and scolded again._"

The blond vampire gasps and hides into the bookshelf when the shrine maiden turns her sight in her direction, then thinks "_dammit, that Reimu. That was close. I won't let her see me and tell sis! I always miss the fun stuff and I won't miss this! I wanna see!_"

Unknown to her, Reimu already knows of her presence, but as long as the little vampire behaves she will not say or do a thing against said blonde.

* * *

><p>For the past five minutes the girls have all been eerily quiet while working on something, or just watching the ones working do their thing.<p>

On a table several feet away from the cauldron's right, Patchouli and Nitori are reading the red book over and over, and as they do the mechanical arms in the kappa's backpack place a turquoise stone, a sealed vial with the label "Blood of the Gods", the black feather of a crow tengu, and a Tiger's Eye stone on the table in front of them.

While the librarian-magician and the kappa, along with Alice and Koakuma watching, read through the pages of the book, Marisa works on writing on the cauldron's hot exterior with a small painter's brush and aquamarine paint.

With each letter, rune, and symbol written the smile on the witch and the excitement in her eyes grows, to the point of looking insane.

She moves a bit to her left and picks up a green paint cup from her left, then resumes her writing.

She stops with a maddened smile on her face and thinks "_this is it. This. is. IT! These idiots will help me create the elixir of eternal life. One I can actually ingest without bursting my stomach!_"

The black and white resumes writing on the hot cauldron while thinking "_and all I had to do was tell them we are making a magical rain that will enhance our crops and vegetation. PHAH! Nitori even thinks this will make the waters cleaner and more nourishing! Heh, even Reimu believed that. And by the time they figure out what I'm up to, I will have drunk the elixir and made myself immortal!_"

She stops using the green paint and picks up a third cup, this one with yellow pain, then resumes writing a rune that's part green, part aquamarine, and now will have some yellow as well, though the second she finishes the rune she frowns sadly.

"_But, they trusted me, and I'm kinda being a bitch here. Even for someone like me, that's just low. And after I do become immortal, what if Reimu starts hating me for it? What if she no longer wants to see me? That... that would-_"

While thinking these rather discouraging second thoughts the witch subconsciously finishes writing on the cauldron; she even picked the last cup filled with lilac paint and correctly applied every single symbol, rune and scripture where they belong.

After realizing she's done her smile returns, but alternates into a frown and goes back to smiling while thinking "_no! No second thoughts now! I'll make it up to them all if it comes down to it. That's it, after I'm immortal I'll apologize sincerely, then I'll make it up to them with a gift of something. I'll have more than enough time, so yeah, that's what I'll do!_"

Unaware of it, Reimu has been observing her witch friend all that time and has decided to approach her.

She grabs Marisa by her shoulder, forces her on her feet, and then loudly exclaims "you are plotting something Kirisame!"

All eyes, even those hidden red eyes from the corner turn to the witch and the maiden as said maiden continues "tell the truth! You don't truly concern yourself with anything other than **YOU**, and all of a sudden you want to make a holy rain spell for all Gensokyo, like some god! What are you really up to?"

Marisa stammers nervously upon the realization of all those eyes set fixed on her and waiting for her answer and thinks "_shit, I should have seen this coming! Reimu's intuition is going to ruin this. I can't allow it! Calm yourself Marisa! Calm yourself down and think!_"

A long sigh escapes the witch as she closes her eyes to relax herself and mentally iron out her face of any expression, and then opens her eyes again to look at Reimu in the most relaxed manner possible to her at the moment.

She grins that annoyingly confident way that only she can, straightens herself out before plucking the maiden's hands off her shirt, then says "relax, relax. You are just being paranoid. Look, if anything goes wrong and these rains start killing the plants instead of making them grow, I have the counter-spell ready. You'll all see this will be well worth it."

The red and white maiden stands in place with her hands on her hips as she stares at the overconfident witch, then points at her with her right hand and says "you better not be lying to me or I'm going to beat you to next year, you hear me? NEXT YEAR!"

One large drop of sweat rolls down the heads of all present in the room, including the hiding vampire, when they feel the intensity of Reimu's words reaching them.

The shrine maiden quickly realizes that aside from the shivering witch in front of her there are also the other two witches, a kappa, a demon, and a hidden vampire all giving her the "please-pipe-down" eyes, so accepting this defeat the maiden mutters under her breath while walking straight toward a bookshelf, and rests her back against it with her arms crossed under her small chest while angrily glancing all around herself.

* * *

><p>"IT'S ALMOST DONE!" shouts the black and white witch after five hours of boring, uneventful and rather silent preparations.<p>

Reimu is now sitting on a chair far away from the cauldron, right underneath Flandre's hiding spot and still glancing angrily at the girls as they prepare their experiment.

As for Alice, though at first she only planned on watching, she somehow ended up assisting Marisa with her spell recital practice, and now seems quite eager to conduct this experiment as well.

Koakuma, being the little devil she is, has attempted to sabotage the whole experiment with one of her hiding games by trying to hide the tengu feather, but ended up tied up by sacred ropes, courtesy of Reimu, and sits facing a corner with her head-wings down.

From her hiding place above the maiden, Flandre thinks "_this is so boring! And with that red and white under me, I can't sneak out and go to my room! I wanna go sleep!_" while looking around with a frustrated look on her face and seeking for any manner of sneaking out of the room.

She begins to shiver with anxiousness, her thoughts are becoming more and more untangled, her lips stretch into a vile and insane smile, and now a solution has become clear to the deranged little vampire.

"_Break the maiden and go to sleep. Yeah, that's all I need to do. Hehehe, it's so simple, how could I be so stupid. Stupid little Flan. Now just raise that hand, grab her stupid eye aaaaand..._"

As the insane little girl thinks this she slowly raises her right hand with the palm open, curves her fingers as though holding something in mid-air, and prepares to make the shrine maiden go kyuun!

"Jeez, finally." exclaims Alice with a groan.

Even Shanghai seems anxious as her master continues "I thought you were all prepared for this!"

Marisa chuckles nervously and with a sheepish smile on her face she says "sorry, forgot tonight was a full-moon's night, ze."

Flandre's mind snaps back to somewhat normal, her idea to kill Reimu becomes a fuzzy memory, and she returns her sight toward the cauldron and smiles excitedly when Patchouli and Nitori place the blood and the turquoise stone into the bubbling mint-green liquid, which turns snot-green after the last ingredients are placed in.

Marisa grabs the tengu's feather on her left hand and the tiger's eye stone on her right hand, holds them on her open hands while facing the cauldron, then chants an odd incantation.

A warm wind starts blowing right out of the cauldron, yet the feather on Marisa's hand remains in its place.

Reimu looks curious and walks over to Patchouli while watching the liquid as it gurgles violently and turns bright red, then whispers "she's making her move. Get ready."

The purple-haired magician nods once and prepares a dim aquamarine ball of light on her hand, while Alice prepares a bright red shard on Shanghai's capable little hands.

To all of this, the happy kappa remains blissfully oblivious while watching the liquid change to deep blue and exclaims "yes! The color of the river! This is going to be great Marisa!"

The witch fails to reply, so Nitori looks over and asks "Marisa did you hear me?"

The black and white witch ignores the kappa's call as she moves toward the cauldron and thinks "_one sip. One sip is all I need, and I will have become immortal! Come on girl, move fas-"_

An aquamarine barrier appears before the witch, halting her progress and frustrating her to the point of rage almost immediately.

"What the hell are you doing Patchouli?" barks Marisa as she turns her furious stare toward the one-week magician.

Said magician calmly says "I'm sorry but the experiment was a failure. I can't let you get closer. ...Unless. Maybe you would like to share something with us? Perhaps tell me why this book is a tampered magical replica?"

The black and white witch gasps loudly, Nitori stares in shock and disbelief toward mentioned witch, both Alice and Reimu share an angry stare, and from the corner Koakuma has freed herself from the rope and flips her thumbs up at Marisa.

The witch opens her mouth to explain after realizing she's been found out, but the doors to the library bang open, and the liquid inside the cauldron bubbles and snaps violently as murky grey clouds begin to rise from it.

Byakuren Hijiri, a beautiful woman with long wavy light-brown hair that's purple on the top, has hazel eyes, and wears a black and red cape, a black and white dress that has the black part cross-laced on the front, and is holding to a blue magical scroll.

To her left is Sanae Kochiya, who has long light-green hair, green eyes, adorns her hair with a frog clip above a coiled snake which holds her sideburn on her left, and wears a white vest with blue borders, a long blue skirt, and has a pair of detached sleeves like Reimu.

The magician monk groans and exclaims "we were too late!", and then the blue and white maiden roars with fury.

The red and white one casually looks up at the girls and asks "what's the problem you two? Too late for what?"

Byakuren reveals the red book, tosses it over to Patchouli and says "Reimu, Marisa tricked you all! She wants to create an elixir of immortality, but the concoction is far too dangerous!"

"DANGEROUS?" exclaims the confused kappa, who breathes through her mouth several times before managing to say "she-she told me it was safe! That she wanted to make trees and foods grow ten times their size, flowers bloom; clean the river!"

"GULP! Ahhh, that tasted better than expected, ze."

With horror in their faces the girls all remember about Marisa and her attempts to approach the cauldron, and watch as the witch smacks her lips and happily says "and now, I am immortal!"

Reimu chokes on a gasp and raises her arm while looking worriedly toward her friend, but long before words can leave her mouth the cauldron begins to make a rumbling sound and the clouds made by the concoction start to spark lightning bolts.

Sanae shrieks and exclaims "we have to get out of here! Byakuren it's just as you said! We have to leave, NOW!"

"**MARISAAAA!**"

Reimu's heart-stopping scream shocks all in the room, and when their eyes lay upon the witch they all bear witness to one horrifying sight.

Marisa lies on her hands and knees as she vomits all the blood from her body, her skin shrivels and dries right before their eyes, and yet she keeps breathing.

The red and white maiden starts screaming as though she's being tortured with a knife, and soon she starts bleeding through her ears and mouth as the clouds from the cauldron envelop her.

Shortly after, the whole room is filled with the screaming of girls and odd splashing sounds as the clouds take over the room, and shortly after that the corridor outside the library shares the same disturbing event.

From outside the mansion the cloud can be seen as it rapidly takes the entire building within, and from one of the rooms a girl furiously cries "SAKUYAAA! SAKUYA, GET UP! **AAAAAHHHHHHHH!**"

All over the mansion the sound of girls screaming and gagging, and the sound of splashing and thuds goes on for exactly fifteen minutes, and then silence.

A lone window on the front of the second floor bursts open and the murky clouds finally break out of the mansion and quickly take to the skies.

Fairies, humans, and youkai all marvel at the sight of the clouds as they begin the conquering of Gensokyo, all marveling at the sight, not knowing of the danger they are in.

Only a few humans in the village know this is something far more dangerous than it seems when the eyes of the Dragon God statue's at the center of the village start glowing intense red and the statue itself roars, but even so they cannot tell what sort of fate awaits them.

* * *

><p><strong>Three Days Later<strong>

Aya Shameimaru, tengu reporter that has short raven-black hair, red eyes, and wears a white shirt, a black skirt, red geta sandals with a tall platform, and a red tokin on her head, flies around the murky-clouded skies of Gensokyo while admiring the scenery and speaking to herself out loud.

"Three days cooped up in my house, just because I took a picture of lady Arile's heart panties. Talk about issues."

She looks ahead of herself and admires the scenery of the odd clouds with crawling sparks covering the Sun, seemingly ganging up wherever said ball of radiant light might be.

The lone tengu then scouts around the Youkai Forest underneath her and loudly says "boy, it's so quiet. I haven't seen a kappa, a fairy, a youkai, a Sanae... nothing but trees. Jeez, maybe after being locked for so long- *GASP!*"

Her gasp and shock is so sudden her black crow wings pop right out of her back, then she clasps her own face with her hands and exclaims "oh no! I missed a big scoop! GRRR, so UNFAIIIIIR!"

She hurries to her destination while saying "no way, no way, no HOW; no way I'm missing this scoop! Murky clouds covering Gensokyo for three whole days, sparks of lightning keep coursing through those clouds like snakes? This is a big incident! I'm going to get to Reimu first and cover the story all by myself!"

Again she stops and rests her crossed arms on her well-endowed chest and closes her eyes while in deep thought and hums.

"But knowing that lazy maiden she must have moved on by now, so getting in her way will mean I get blown right out of the sky. I need to be careful."

While the crow tengu thinks up a bird-brained idea to intercept the Hakurei maiden without getting in harm's way, she's unaware of the familiar figure to her left.

"Sorry Shameimaru, but I'm afraid this scoop is, like, mine!" says the figure.

Aya turns a furious glare at the figure and exclaims "HATATE! Of all the annoying bitches I could run into!"

Hatate Himekaidou is another crow tengu, and Aya's stalker, and she has long brown hair tied to twin tails, brown eyes, and wears a black tie around a pink shirt's collar, a checkered black and purple skirt, and holds a checkered yellow and orange cell-phone, which happens to be her camera.

Pointing at her rival, the twin-tailed tengu claims "how rude you are! Anyway I am going to take you down now and take the story for myself! Then I'll write how I beat you up **_and_** took the story right from under your feeble wings!"

The girl grunts as she feels the air in her body leaving her after a hard and blunt impact on her stomach, then coughs hard and wheezes "ch-cheating cow-crow."

The black haired tengu has sunk her knee inside the twin-tailed tengu's stomach and smiles confidently while boastfully saying "sorry, but third-rated reporters aren't allowed their own scoops until they hatch from their eggs."

A symphony of painful sensations grace the back of Aya's head after Hatate recovers and uses her fist and camera to strike the well-endowed crow, then flies away from her adversary to avoid any retaliation.

While the short haired girl furiously rubs the back of her head, the long haired and surprisingly well endowed girl pulls a spell card from her pocket, and then notices her opponent has successfully unbuttoned her shirt.

She squeals and covers her small black brassiere that almost fails to cover her unmentionables, manages to button herself up rapidly, then points at the perverted crow and exclaims through tears "th-that was a cheat shot you pervert!"

Aya is already recovered and is sticking her tongue out at the checkered-skirted girl while winking cutely, then reveals her own camera and playfully says "and I took a close-up shot too. Can't wait to develop this film!"

Hatate's growl quickly develops into a roar, and then she shouts "Continuous Shooting, Rapid Shot!"

The black haired girl moves in quick circles around her stalker while they both take as many pictures of each other as they can.

Panty shots, bra shots, compromising shots, questionable shots, head shots, leg shots, and after having enough material for herself the black haired girl flies right in front of the checkered-skirted girl's face and flashes her directly in her eyes with her camera.

"GRAH! Dammit Aya that's, like, cheating!" shouts the brown-haired girl.

The mentioned tengu chuckles victoriously, raises a spell card, then says "look, I don't have time to waist with you, so... Illusionary Dominance!"

The black-haired tengu girl moves around fast and rapidly picks up her pace until she's a bright red beam flying around the dizzy brown-haired girl.

As she passes by Hatate she kicks, punches and peep-shots the girl, and when she's sure the girl has had enough, she stops in front of her and smiles.

"Well, you made me waste time" says the black-haired girl as a vein pulsates on her forehead, then continues "so a small beating is in order before I send you crashing to the ground, so~"

Aya takes her fan and swings it hard to create one small tornado, kicks the screaming girl while laughing, flies above the girls' head, and when the tornado dies down and Hatate is left in a daze, the black haired tengu dive-kicks her on the chest and sends her crashing to the ground.

BOOM! "Oof!"

The tengu girl with the checkered skirt lands face-first on the ground below, spewing a bit of blood upon impact and having her skirt raised due to the impact, and is now showing off her black panties as she rests on the small patch of grass beneath her.

Aya takes several pictures and watches triumphantly from the sky as her tengu opponent slowly gets up, then shouts "well Hatate, it was annoying but fun, so you go back home and lick your wounds while the _real_ reporters do their job."

The girl on the ground recovers quickly enough to get up and flip a finger at the airborne girl, and that's when she notices something in the trees.

"Wha-what the-? G-get away!" exclaims Hatate as she tries to back away from something.

Aya looks curiously at the girl, then screams out of fright when a pack of blood-covered fairies and youkai with rotting skins jump from the trees and start biting hard on the brown haired girl's skin, making one annoying and disturbing moan while doing so.

From the sky Aya gasps in horror and screams "HATATE! HATATE GET OUT OF THERE!"

From the ground the tengu girl groans her last, but just before her hand falls limp she manages to clearly scream "Shameimaru, you bitch!", while flipping her off one last time for good measure.

There is one loud and disturbing gushing sound along with a crunch, Hatate's body convulses, then the attackers stop eating the girl and look up at Aya.

The crow shrieks when she notices the fairies are missing pieces of flesh from several places of their bodies, the youkai look all slimy and smell worse than a male wolf tengu after intense training, and all who have at least one eye left have lost their irises, leaving only one disgusting bloodshot or white round orb inside dried sockets, and some seem to be oozing black slime from their eye-sockets, whether empty or not.

Terrified by the sight the crow tengu gasps and quickly flies away, followed closely by the strange fairies and the only youkai that can fly.

* * *

><p>"What was that? What just happened? WHAT DID I JUST DO?" repeats Aya as she flies erratically through the air.<p>

Her wings have sprung on their own again and she flaps them madly, even though she doesn't really need them to fly, but she can't think straight.

She's got some fairies and a youkai that stink like hell and look like they have been killed several times over, and added to the fact that these creatures just ate Hatate to her death doesn't help the crow tengu's rapid-beating heart and unhinged nerves to settle.

The girl starts to sweat even though she's being caressed by cool air, and says "need to go to shrine Hakurei! Reimu get helping for! ARGH, this stench is driving me mad!" and now she starts panting as she propels herself forward.

"**WAIT A MINUTE!**" exclaims Aya as she skids in the air and turns around then says to herself "what the hell is wrong with me? I have danmaku, and I am PLENTY strong on my own!"

She takes her fan on her right hand, summons energy to her left hand, and as she faces the disgusting-looking fairies and the youkai she grins confidently and exclaims "I'll just get rid of you and get a good story out of it while I'm at it!"

The decaying fairies hiss and moan as they get closer to the tengu, but are met by powerful gales and an almost-never-ending barrage of red and blue bullets, far more than needed to deal with weaklings like fairies or low-class youkai like the one in the decaying group.

The creatures break apart with the blade-like winds and are cooked to a crisp with Aya's bullets, then the wind stops and allows the remaining ashes to fall straight down to the trees below.

The crow-girl with black wings on her back twirls once in the air and takes her camera from around her neck, twirls around again and aims the lens at the ashes, and while raising two fingers on her left hand she exclaims "_Aya Shameimaru, age 17, Slayer of Stinky Monster and Savior of the Youkai Forest._ Oh yeah, that sounds like front page material alright!"

She starts to sweat when she realizes she just pulverized the proof of her claims to dust, and taking a picture of floating dust isn't going to cut it as _proof_, no matter how badly she wants it to be.

The girl shrugs, hangs her camera around her neck, then turn around and casually flies away while saying "eh, guess I missed my chance," and that's when she senses something is behind her once again.

She turns her startled face and watches as the dust particles rapidly expand, and now her pursuers are back in, sort of, once piece, and I say-sort of because of the missing chunks of flesh from their bodies.

"Oh shiiiiit!" exclaims the tengu girl as she turns around to fly away again, but quickly realizes her left, front and right are blocked by more decaying fairies, as well as several other flying youkai, and what she THINKS is one of her crow friends, which is missing the cover for its stomach's insides.

She whimpers as she looks around herself, and then gulps before nervously asking "what the hell?", then dives down and flaps her wings as hard as her strength will allow to try and go under the surrounding monsters.

She screams as she halts in front of another group of decaying fairies that pops out from under the trees, screeches when she lifts her leg to avoid getting clawed by a disgustingly decayed nekomata, then starts to whimper and cry when she realizes the dire situation she's in.

"Th-this can't be. I... I was just going to get a story, that's all. I can't..." Aya shivers as the word "_die_" crosses her mind, whimpers when the fairies moan as they get closer, drooling green slime from their mouths, then the tengu takes off to the ground while shouting "**I CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!**"

The moment she makes her desperate move to escape, the disgusting looking flying monsters chase after her, though are a bit slow.

That doesn't matter, though.

Aya is so frightened she keeps flying erratically, and even with her speed she hinders herself to constant slow-downs, especially when the treetops start shaking violently.

It doesn't take the tengu that long to see the many decaying youkai jumping from treetop to treetop besides her in a rather clumsy attempt to cut her off.

Regardless of how clumsy and slow they may be, the smell they emanate and their disgusting looks are enough to send the crow tengu's mind into freak-mode, and thus preventing her from effectively using her attacks and abilities the way she should.

Aya Shameimaru, age 17 (that's a lie), has foolishly run straight toward a clearing where the monsters have just finished off a rather large beastly youkai and have left it bleeding at the left edge of the clearing, were its guts are literally spilled all around.

The tengu girl gasps, gags and almost vomits when she sees that supposedly dead youkai thrash about to get on all fours, and as soon as it's on its feet it snorts as it turns its attention to the girl.

It spits its own blood as it roars, its left eye falls off its socket, and now, after recovering enough to think a coherent thought, Aya finds herself surrounded by countless of the decaying monsters, plus one large gutted beast.

"Oh no. Oh shit! I'm surrounded!" she cries as she turns her head and eyes around the clearing.

Once again she tries danmaku on the creatures, covering the ones in front of her in a blanket of red and blue, but these only turn to ash for three seconds before magically coming back to life.

There is a moment of pause and Aya takes this moment to chuckle nervously and ask "so, you guys, er, like sports or something? WAH~!"

The monsters rush to her from all sides and at this moment she curls up into a quivering mass while thinking "_dear lord Tenma, I regret to inform you that due to an untimely death from my part, and the totally accidental death of Hatate, we weren't able to leave any contribution to the tengu race other than some awesome news, particularly my own works. Please bury our bodies-and I don't wanna DIEEEEEE~!_"

Out of complete despair the tengu reporter picks her camera and aims it in front of herself while looking away, quivering with fright, then takes a single shot, and several thuds are quickly heard after the shutter click.

The tengu girl looks in front of herself and stares at all the monsters, including the gutted youkai, lying lifelessly on the ground, unmoving and silent; then jumps toward them to avoid the swarm that were just about to claw and bite her to her death, and stares at the dead monsters on the ground.

She braves her luck and shoves one of the decaying fairies with her foot, flinches, but quickly discovers they are really dead.

She grabs her camera with both hands and stares at it, pulls it free from her neck, then says "my camera did that?" and stares at the still-sorta-living monsters.

They lunge at her, but she's ready.

"KYAAAHH~" screams the girl as she takes several more pictures as fast as she can, flashing the creatures with that bright spark from her camera, and they all drop to the ground in front and all around the surprised tengu.

Every single creature that refused to die and was attacking her just a moment ago lie lifelessly on the ground, and though some twitch, they remain where they are.

"What the-?" asks the dumbstruck tengu girl to herself before saying "I have to make sure!", then takes off to the sky.

She is immediately attacked by several decaying fairies on the front, these ones with empty sockets for eyes.

She raises her camera, takes two pictures, and the disgusting fairies drop from the sky like flies.

Aya starts to laugh upon her discovery, then quickly progresses to a cackle as she takes the picture of more of the decaying monsters.

She dives down closer to the trees to take the pictures of those youkai on them while saying "take that! And that, and that, and THAT! You disgusting shits can all DIE! AHAHAHAHA~!"

She takes the skies once again and realizes the monsters have stopped attacking, and boastfully exclaims "yeah! Took care of all those things! Too bad about Hatate though."

She shrugs and says "oh well, better go to the shrine and quickly report this to Reimu. After that I'll get a juicy story as I, Aya Shameimaru, help the Hakurei maiden tackle this disgusting incident! Ah-ha-ha-haa~!"

After celebrating her victory over the decaying monsters the tengu flies straight toward her intended destination, and remains blissfully unaware she's being watched from beneath the trees.

* * *

><p>The Hakurei Shrine, which rests on top of a tall mountain at the eastern border of Gensokyo, should be the ever-watchful eye of this magical paradise, guarding the border and watching over the land to solve the many incidents that occur, but now it is a derelict set of small buildings infested with all sorts of decaying youkai and fairies that limp about aimlessly.<p>

Though Aya doesn't really have the same eyes as Momiji, a comrade white wolf tengu, she can clearly see the derelict state of the shrine and the many monsters crawling around there.

She stops in mid-air and stares at the shrine with her mouth agape, then manages to gasp and say "w-wait? The shrine. Reimu! What happened here?" and while scanning the buildings as best she can she whimpers incoherent words.

"But how?" she asks herself as she scans more furiously around the shrine, probably looking for the maiden.

"Did I miss some really big scoop while I was under house arrest? Was there some sort of epic battle to the death and Reimu lost? Am I still trapped inside my house and somehow got caught in my own imagination out of sheer boredom?"

The tengu girl pinches her cheeks and yelps, then gulps and nervously says "n-nope. I'm awake. Haha..." and after realizing she's laughing, though out of nervousness, she slaps her own face and growls "th-this isn't funny!"

She gives the shrine one last glance as she turns around to head straight back to the Tengu Village, but her mind immediately punishes her with memories that cause her guilt.

True that Reimu can be a bitch, especially when she's solving an incident, but she's also a sweet person most of the time, and a very good and reliable friend.

Images of the maiden pass by the tengu's mind; images of Reimu offering food and tea with that un-amused face of hers, actually conversing amiably and always telling the truth and nothing but the truth, even when annoyed by the tengu's presence.

...And guilt quickly starts eating through her, so strongly in fact that her shoulders and left eye keep twitching while she keeps turning toward and away from the shrine.

Aya finally stops while facing the shrine; her twitching stopped and her fear taken over by resolute courage; and with her camera on her risen right hand she exclaims "this time it's going to be ME who solves the incident! I'll save Reimu and write the story as it unfolds from MY point of view! Nobody will question me when I say I only write the truth after this!"

She dives straight to the shrine and exclaims "hold on Reimu, I'm coming to save you!", and so begins the story of an Undying Gensokyo.

* * *

><p>"Ok, so I made it this far..." says Aya to nobody in particular as she peeks her head over the last three steps under the broken red gate, then asks "...now what should I do?"<p>

The shrine used to be such a beautiful and peaceful place to visit, but now it looks like an ancient haunted ground with decaying and sort-of undying creatures roaming about.

The air is thick with the smell of death, accompanied by a thin brown mist that looks all kinds of unnatural.

The red gate has the left half standing by a miracle, the right half looks like it's been hacked by a blunt blade until it tumbled forward, and now leans against the left beam.

The donation box, though never really important seeing as it was always empty, has been blasted several times, leaving only its base atop of the stairs.

The main shrine itself looks broken down and about ready to collapse on its own, but what Aya is most interested in is the building behind it.

The building used for the maidens to live their daily lives and fulfill their bodily needs.

The girl smacks herself across the face while saying to herself "no naughty thoughts now Shameimaru."

She stops slapping herself around while looking at the living house, the only building in the shrine grounds that looks solid, and whispers "right, I'm sure she's gotta be there. She's been protecting it, I can tell!"

The tengu takes her camera with both hands and inspects the whole thing three times before saying "gonna need to group as many of them as I can before taking the shot to save some film, then make my heroic entrance, save Reimu's butt, then we can solve this smelly incident."

She casually looks to her left at the slime-drooling fairy breathing through her mouth, then looks to her right at what looks like a skinned rabbit with blade for ears, giggles and waves her fingers at them, then takes their picture, flashing them to their immediate deaths.

"Ayayaya, maybe I should have waited for more", and that's when she gasps upon realizing all the decaying monsters in the shrine are quite aware of her presence.

She screams at the top of her lungs as she crawls up the stairs to avoid getting maimed by several sharp claws and bloodied teeth aimed at her gorgeous calves, rolls under the almost-falling red gates, and stops while aiming her camera at the creatures, then says "big smiles now!"

The monsters all open their mouths wide as they rush toward the tengu, there's a click and a quick flash from the camera, and several of the fairies and youkai drop to the ground, while four more continue moving.

"HOLY CRAP, THEY **LIVE**!" exclaims the tengu right after jumping back once to avoid a set of teeth.

The large red gate finally gives way and instantly falls on top of the monsters, pinning them down under its weight and allowing Aya to walk closer and take one more picture, silencing them in a flash.

She sighs with relief, wipes her sweating forehead with the back of her arm and says "so, seems some of these things take two snaps to crack."

The rest of the creatures at the shrine grounds moan when they feel the tengu's presence, and though not really knowing this fact she nervously says to herself "ohh-no. Maybe they know I'm here now."

She takes a fighting stance with her camera on hand and bravely exclaims "well no matter! I'll just kill them all and move on to the next stage!"

The tengu girl looks to the right of the shrine and realizes she's going to have to walk through a narrow path between the shrine and the trees.

"The trees..." whispers Shameimaru when she gets a better look at them.

They look old, taller, far more sinister than a spooky tree should look, and all seem to be bending forward as though attempting to look down on some would-be prey before swinging their branches to nab said pray and do whatever it is evil trees do to live prey.

She shakes her head to escape that though and considers flying over the building, but doing so might incite another aerial attack, and heavens know that tengu doesn't want that again.

She looks to the left of the shrine and quickly disregard that option when she notices how dark it looks over there with all those bushes and vines, and so, in her mind, she is left with but one choice, and that is to brave the spooky trees through the right narrow path over to the living house on foot, ignoring the option of going through the inside of the main shrine to the back.

The foolish but brave tengu takes her first step and suddenly realizes how quiet it's become. Not even the wind is blowing.

She takes another step and the clack from the tall platform on her sandal sounds like a powerful bang loud enough to wake the dead, so thinking it's too late for sneaking about she decides to screw it and walk as fast as she can.

As she gets closer to the back her heart starts beating fast, her limbs feel hot and cold at the same time with adrenaline rushing through them back-and-forth.

Her breathing becomes labored, the grip on her camera seems to fail her, and every step she takes forward feels like getting closer to her untimely death.

From her left, inside the shrine, she can hear quick footsteps heading her way so she speeds up her pace along with her heartbeats.

The tengu screeches and falls on her butt as a massive red pillar breaks through the inside of the shrine, slams against the trees and falls to the ground with several thunderous bangs.

The terrified tengu looks inside the pitch-dark shrine through the new hole and manages to see a familiar silhouette just before it zips away, then tries to get up.

She immediately realizes her left leg is stuck under the large red pillar that USED to be the shrine's gate, then exclaims "uh-oh! G-gotta get-", but before she can finish her sentence she gulps when she sees a group of decaying fairies diving toward her.

"G-GET AWAY!" she exclaims as she takes her camera and takes three pictures to make sure all the fairies are down, but quickly learns there are more fairies and dog-looking monsters headed her way.

Even though she's hyperventilating and her arms feeling like jelly, Aya manages to take her fan from underneath herself and quickly blows the old column straight at her attackers and gets up on her feet.

She breathes hard and fast thought her mouth while glancing around with a horrified look, then shouts "someone's trying to kill me! Reimu! I need Reimu!"

The tengu girl takes flight and quickly realizes she's made a mistake when she finds herself taking several pictures all around herself and knocking down several fairies and what look like ghoulish spirits the size of humans.

"This is insane! Why are there so many?" exclaims Aya while looking for an escape, and find it she does.

After killing another group of decaying monsters in front of herself she sees an open path straight to the side doors of the living house and dives straight to it.

She takes pictures of three more rotting dog-like youkai that headed forth to stop her advance into the house, lands next to their limp bodies in front of the sliding doors, turns around and takes a picture of more flying attackers, killing them all in an instant, and before anything else happens she opens those doors, enters the dark shrine, then closes the doors again as fast as she can.

* * *

><p>The inside of the building is dark, far darker than she anticipated.<p>

Even to her tengu eyes it is difficult to see, and with a gulp she tries scanning around as best as she can, aiming her camera in front of herself.

For some reason, the more her eyes adjust to the darkness the more nervous she gets, and now makes the mistake of taking rapid breaths through her mouth.

She whimpers when she notices her mistake and quickly raises her camera as she flinches in case something decides to jump on her, but after some seconds pass and nothing happens she slowly opens her left eye and recomposes herself.

After being able to see she's alone in the dark shrine, with only the small table close to the door and wall ornaments around her undisturbed, she sighs quietly and whispers to herself "seems I'm the only one here", and then her heart gets heavy at the realization.

The inside of the shrine is far too dark, nothing seems to have been disturbed, not even in the kitchen, there doesn't seem to have been any attempts to open any windows, and this all leads to the disheartening fact that Reimu might not be here at all.

"So she's not here" whispers Aya to herself, holding back a hot tear from escaping her left eye, though it still flows free and rolls down her cheek, dangles on her chin for a second, then drops to the floor below the girl.

The drop plops on the floor and something rattles inside the building immediately afterward, making loud thumps from one of the bedrooms.

Aya takes her camera and prepares it, though her nervous heart is making it hard for her to actually stand in place.

"Wh-who's there?" whimpers the crow tengu while looking around, then bravely whimpers "Reimu, is that you?"

There is no response, and feeling it's far safer to stay inside the shrine rather than go outside and face countless smelly monsters, the reporter decides to investigate.

After a quick gulp for courage the girl slowly makes her way toward the narrow rooms corridor, making sure she makes as little noise as possible while moving around.

Her own sandals make a very light thud as she moves closer and closer to the corridor while keeping as close to the right wall as she can, and when she reaches the archway to said corridors she stops and thinks "_there's someone here, I can feel her presence! But what is this uneasiness I'm feeling?_"

The tengu has to gulp down her rapid-beating heart back into her chest, though doing this is followed by the shivering of her whole body, yet she manages to steel herself.

Nodding to herself she cries loudly as she jumps into the dark and narrow corridor looking further inside its right while holding her camera tightly, but there's nothing at all.

She sighs loudly after feeling great relief, then says to herself "phew, there was nothing after all."

The broom closet door to her immediate left bursts open and knocks the tengu reporter away, and immediately from within jumps a human-child-sized fairy with blonde hair tied to pigtails, wearing a blood-stained white and red dress.

Her face is half-rotten, leaving half her mandible and blood-stained teeth bare, and she moves like a fast beast.

Aya shrieks with panic but manages to raise her camera as quickly as the decaying fairy jumps on her, then takes a shot.

"MISCHIEVOUS TRIO?" exclaims Aya as the decaying figure of Sunny Milk veers away and tumbles backward against the farthest wall after getting flashed.

The reporter kicks herself up on her feet and stares at the decaying fairy as it rubs its eyes with its bony hands, then says "oh crap! Where there's one of you the other two aren't far behind!"

She doesn't have time to scout around for the remaining two fairies as the one in front hisses and jumps toward her, so the reporter quickly takes the next photo and the decaying creature misses her mark and slams face-first on the oven at the kitchen, which lies right next to the living room to the left of the building.

There is no respite for the tengu as the decaying fairy quickly hops back on her feet and lunges forward again.

Aya yelps as she raises her camera again but the fairy has tackled her ribs and knocked her to the floor.

Almost crying in despair and feeling disgusted, the reporter pushes the fairy by its shoulders as it tries to take desperate and vicious bites out of her neck, though this proves to be tasking as the strength of this fairy far surpasses her own; and she's a tengu.

"GET OFF!" screams Aya after managing to push the little monster off, then takes her camera and takes one, two, three more pictures in rapid succession while stumbling backward to her feet.

The decaying figure of Sunny hisses and groans as it struggles to get on its feet, and though with a hard and rapid-beating heart and wobbly legs Aya manages to walk over to the struggling monster and furiously shouts "JUST DIE ALREADY!", then takes on last picture.

The camera starts its auto-rewind after the film is spent, and now the girl finds herself alone with an unmoving corpse once again.

Though breathing hard through her mouth, she says "damn, what... what is up with you? Why... why did it take so many... so many shots to kill you?", then quickly opens her camera to take out the old film and replace it with a new one as fast as she can.

She shrieks and takes a picture when someone bangs a door from inside the bedrooms, but before totally freaking out thinking it's the other two fairies, a soft girl's voice calls "Reimu? Hakurei Reimu is that you? Please, whoever you are, if you can understand me come inside the maiden's main room!"

The tengu whispers "hey, I know that voice," then proceeds to the rooms corridor once more.

She looks to Reimu's room and notices there's light coming from within it, so without waiting for any more surprises she rushes to the room, opens the sliding door, then rolls inside the room with her camera ready in case of an attack.

Instead of yet another decaying monster she comes face to face with Satori Komeiji, the mind/heart-reading youkai that resides in Chireiden; or Palace of the Earth Spirits.

She's crouching at a corner in the lamp-lit room and looking at Aya with a subtle hint of distress in her eyes.

She has short purple hair with a black headband and purple eyes, and wears a pastel-blue shirt and pink skirt, and has a red eye near her chest that's attached with strings around her body.

The satori stares silently at the tengu for a moment, then suddenly sighs as though with great relief, then says "thank goodness. I thought I was going to end up like them, or worst, Miss Shameimaru."

Aya gulps and says "ah, it's that girl from before, from the incident underground. Um, Sardoni was it?"

"Satori. Satori Komeiji" corrects the mind-reader, whom immediately resumes her speech "I see, so you are looking for Miss Reimu too. I was hoping you would have had at least seen her."

The tengu sweats and smiles rather uncomfortably while staring at the purple-haired girl, then chuckles nervously while saying "right, you can read my mind. How annoying!"

* * *

><p>The shrine maiden's room is lit by a single lamp on a table on the corner, and from what the satori girl said it's been lighting the room since before she came.<p>

"And after everyone got sick I had no choice but to come looking for the Hakurei Maiden's aid" says Satori as she tightens the embrace around her own legs while curling into a ball.

Aya is busy writing everything down on her notepad, which the satori doesn't seem to mind as she continues "the second I took flight I was attacked by those zombies and... yes I believe they are zombies."

The tengu gulps and says "at least let me ask the question!"

Satori grins lightly and replies "and I thought animals liked my mind-reading. Well, I guess tengu are slightly different."

The nervous tengu girl chuckles and says "um, riiight. So what about that fairy? How did you end up in here?"

Satori gulps as she looks toward the door of the room as though pained by the thought, then says "that fairy... There were two more with her, though I do not know where they are now."

"Stop doing that!" cries Aya, but Satori ignores her and continues "that one in red and white, she followed me inside the shrine and trapped me in here, and then she..."

Tears roll down the girl's eyes as she says "she told me they found Okuu while she was following me, and that she was tasty to them. She wanted to taste me but- Y-yes she managed to speak. Her two friends could speak too, though not as clearly."

This time the tengu didn't mind the satori reading her thoughts regarding the question of the talking zombie fairy as an act of sympathy for the pained girl.

Taking a deep breath to calm down the satori thanks Aya for understanding and continues "that girl almost got me, but I was able to escape her and get inside this room."

The tengu stops scribbling on her notepad and looks around the room with curiosity, but sees no seals or wards anywhere and asks "so she couldn't enter this room?"

Satori nods and says "she tried banging on the door but every time she tried she would scream as though in pain, then eventually stopped her attempts."

She points to the small end table at the corner of the room and says "no Miss Shameimaru, I didn't do anything at all. The only thing different in this room is that old typewriter over there."

On top of said table, next to the lamp, lies a very old-looking typewriter with some brand new ink ribbon on its side instead of being installed already, and to this the tengu girl sweats and stares in disbelief as she says "ayayayaya~, that's somehow familiar to me, but I just can't think of why."

The satori girl unrolls herself and opens her mouth to speak, but Aya jumps on her and covers her mouth while agitatedly saying "it's best to be left unsaid!"

"But I-" The tengu interrupts the satori again by shouting "BEST. LEFT. UNSAID!"

"Fair enough." says satori while glancing around the room before saying "but what now? I've already been here for a day, nobody else but you has come, and I'm starting to get a little hungry."

Aya looks around the room in search of the same answer she already possesses, though hoping it wasn't true, then takes in some air before speaking and Satori says "I agree. Going to the storage house should be the best course of action right now."

"Please, PLEASE! Let me SAY IT! Feels so WEIRD!" cries the black-haired tengu girl, to which Satori giggles mischievously and says "sorry, it's a force of habit."

Ignoring the satori again the tengu girl sighs as she grabs her camera once again, then says "fine then, I'll go there, and you ARE coming with me."

Satori twitches nervously and exclaims "but wait, I don't think I can... WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN A MEAT SHIELD? Miss Aya that's NOT very nice!"

"You gotta be good for something other than annoying me" says the tengu while letting loose a rather cute little wink from her left eye, leaving Satori stunned with pink cheeks and a nervous twitch on the shoulders.

This seems to make Aya blush along as well.

* * *

><p>Thinking it would be unwise to take the lamp with them the girls make their way out of the dark building using their memory of the shrine's layout and making sure to stay as far away from the now-dead zombie fairy in the living room as possible.<p>

Aya opens the side sliding door slightly and Satori nervously whispers "be careful!", but the tengu ignores the nervous girl and peeks through the small opening.

Clear. Every single zombie fairy and youkai outside the building is dead under the still-sunless and unnaturally clouded sky.

"Huh, I guess I did kill them all on my way here after all." says the tengu with an admiring tone in her voice.

She opens the door all the way so that Satori can see all the zombies lying on the ground, unmoving and emanating a stomach-churning odor capable of bursting nostrils to flames.

The purple-haired girl pinches her nose and holds her mouth to avoid throwing up while the tengu takes notes of what she sees and says "maybe I did kill them all, maybe not. Let's stay on the ground just in case."

The satori nods while thinking "_she's got to have a stomach of steel if this smell doesn't affect her._"

"I guess I got used to the smell, that's all." says the tengu girl, to which Satori twitches and gasps, then stares in shock at the crow while thinking "_what the hell? Did she read my mind just now?_"

"No" casually replies the tengu girl, then turns to the satori and says "it's just written all over your face. Now come on, the faster we can get out of the open, the better."

The purple-haired one shrugs off any further questioning after the wise words from the tengu and follows after said girl as closely as she can.

They make their way through the shrine's porch to the back of the shrine as quietly as they can, and both sigh with great relief when the expected horde of zombies is not there.

Instead they come across a large empty dirt yard with unusual whooshing wind patterns lifting dust all around said yard.

The girls watch with caution as the odd wind patterns seem to make a massive door, and after noticing this Satori says "let's go around it. There's something very- Miss Aya? What's that you smell?"

A familiarly sweet scent reaches the tengu's nostrils, and although for a moment she's at a loss as to whom the scent might belong to, after she familiarizes with the scent a little longer she gasps loudly.

"Reimu?" exclaims the tengu as she walks off the porch and heads straight into the strange door, repeating "Reimu! It's Reimu! She's there, she's alive! I knew it!"

The satori youkai grabs hold of the tengu's shoulder and stops her progress, then says "Miss Tengu, there's something very wrong with all of this. Why would Reimu be-?" but before she can continue she finds herself being dragged along one excited crow tengu, who smiles as though she's just seen the most beautiful of angels in front of herself.

"SHAMEIMARU, SNAP OUT OF IT!" screams Satori as she tries to pull the tengu back, but she and the black-haired girl are inside that massive gate before she knows it.

Once inside the gate the tengu and satori find themselves in a completely different world.

The sky is riddled with strokes of pastel colors that seem to hang like curtains from the clouds, there is a thick black cloud covering the sun, and the ground is made to look like a massive desert.

At the end of the path in front of the girls, not that far from them is the red and white figure of Reimu Hakurei, standing in place with her back toward to the tengu and satori.

A bright beam of hope fills the crow tengu's eyes when she sees the maiden standing there.

She takes a hard gasp of excitement and shouts "REIMUUUU~! Reimu, I found you! Reimu!" She then aims to run straight toward her friend, only to be held back by the satori again.

The purple-haired girl grunts when using all the strength she can summon to herself while pulling back on the eager tengu, then manages to exclaim "WAIT! THERE'S SOMETHING. WRONG! THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH HER THOUGHT PATTERNS!"

Aya tries to pull Satori's arms off from around her waist as she attempts to walk toward Reimu while smiling and saying "it's just this place. Come on, it's Reimu! She'll solve this incident in-" but she stops in mid-sentence and stops moving.

That beam of hope in the tengu's eyes turn to dark despair, her smile turns to a devastated frown, and her cheeks and the skin around her eyes and nose turns almost black, then she gulps and whispers "Re... Reimu? What?"

The maiden turns around to reveal to the tengu the terrible truth.

The skin around her mouth is gone, her bare teeth are stained with dried blood, her eyes look like grey orbs with a painted black dot in the center, her hair looks dried and lifeless, and her skin has turned dark brown and looks as though there is no meat in them.

The zombie shrine maiden turns around completely emanating a sweet smell even though she's decaying, and with a growling voice she says "Shameimaru, Komeiji! I was getting hungry. Come to me now so that I may feast!"

* * *

><p>Aya stands flabbergasted on the spot, not budging to Satori's attempts to pull her away as she stares at her dear deceased friend, then drops on her knees on the hot sand.<p>

"_Zombie. Reimu is a zombie. No, this is not true! She's strong! My friend is strong! This is a nightmare. Yes I'm dreaming that must be it I must be dreaming because that girl is impossible to beat I know I've tried so how is she one of them how how how how how!_"

A powerful burning strike from the left of the face wakes the tengu from her broken thoughts, and remains silent as she stares at the purple-haired girl.

The satori girl sighs with great relief and exclaims "thank the spirits! When your mind broke like that I thought-"

"Wh-what happened with Reimu?" abruptly asks Aya.

The nervous satori looks around and exclaims "she's disappeared. Her thoughts are a mess; I can't pick up her location like this!"

Aya manages to get up on her feet on her own and shouts "l-let's get out of here!"

Satori points behind them and exclaims "she sealed the exit! We have to-"

"Shameimaru and Komeiji are alive! That's an incident!" growls the zombie maiden while the tengu and satori look around for the source of the voice as she continues "I will eat your flesh and devour your brain, then I can meditate more, for the sake of my brethren!"

"How come she can talk so coherently? What's the deal?" exclaims the tengu.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" exclaims Satori "unlike the rest, she has some level of brain function, but it's a complete mess. It's like her mind has been broken!"

A shadow is cast above the girls' heads and they are forced to jump separate ways when that red column from the shrine's gate comes flying straight at them.

Aya manages to spring up on her hands and knees quickly and exclaims "that's the column from before!", then from the sky swoops a white and reddish blur that cuts a gash on the tengu's right arm.

The girl screams as she holds her arm while Reimu loudly growls "shit, I missed! I was aiming for that succulent head!"

From the other side of the column the satori girl calls "Aya, are you alright? I can't seem to fly over this thing! ...Miss Aya?"

The tengu girl manages to fight off the pain and grab her camera as she groans and says "yeah, I'm fine! Stay behind that thing Satori. I'm taking this girl down!"

She turns sideways to the left and takes three pictures as fast as she can as she follows the zombie-girl's blur, then Reimu roars and falls on the sand, rolling like a ball before slamming hard on her back against an invisible wall.

The zombie maiden flips on her hands and feet and rushes to the tengu reporter like a beast, snarling and spewing coagulated blood from her mouth.

Aya is reasonably freaked by the sight, but manages to raise her camera again, though trembling quite badly, and sways right to avoid Reimu's quick hand attack and takes four more pictures, making the zombie girl yelp and roll on the ground once more.

This time the zombie maiden is taking long to get up, struggling against her own weight against the soft sand, so the reporter thinks this is the best moment to go check on her satori friend.

"Hey Satori, I'm coming over!" shouts the girl as she runs toward the column.

She jumps over it with ease and finds the mind-reader cowering next to the large column in a crouch guard.

The tengu girl places her hand on her chin while observing the purple-haired mind-reader in such pose, then grins and says "this looks very familiar. Such an unbecoming sight."

Satori raises her head in a fast jerk and without thinking she jumps on Aya, wraps her arms around her waist and exclaims with relief "thank the spirits! I thought she killed you when I heard you scream."

The black-haired girl smiles and chuckles nervously, looks away with embarrassment, then pats the satori's head while saying "um, yeah, yeah, er, you can let go now."

A loud roar from the air startles the girls who look up at Reimu as she dives toward them, but Aya instinctively grabs her fan, pulls it from her belt, swings it as hard as she can against the column and sends it flying toward the raging zombie girl, sending her flying under the column and slamming hard against the invisible wall, which comes with the disturbing crunch of the maiden's body as it's crushed between said wall and column.

The reporter shrieks and calls for Reimu, then runs as fast as she can through the disappearing sand toward her friend, and when she reaches the maiden, who lies crushed beneath the column, the sand and beautiful sky disappears, and now the girls find themselves back at the Hakurei Shrine's back yard.

Satori rushes to Aya's side and exclaims "no wait!", then stops her from taking the picture and says "her mind is back in one piece!"

"Aya, Satori ...s-s-so sorry." softly growls the maiden as she lifts her left hand, revealing a rather dangerous set of claws to the girls.

The tengu wants to shush her friend, but Reimu shakes her head and softly growls "n-not much time. Take wards. Place inside and we can't harm you while in there. The cauldron. at the Scarlet. spilled. for no more incident!"

The tengu reporter has to summon all her will to prevent herself from crying at the sight of her friend struggling as the maiden rummages through her right sleeve and pulls a pack of ten rectangular pieces of paper, then hands the pack to her tengu friend.

"Re-Reimu? Why? Don't go!" whimpers the tengu, but Reimu shakes her head again and softly growls "I'm. of them. Aya. You alive, so. you must save. or else no. Gensokyo no more. S-Satori takes Aya care."

The satori youkai finds no words to say but manages to nod while Reimu, with a more normal-sounding voice says "a scratch, a bite. will turn you to one. Keep safe and stop her."

To this, the tengu nervously look at the cut she had received before but immediately realizes her arm is fully healed and her skin looks the same as ever.

A pained smile takes the maiden as she says "take care now. Keep safe for each other. Guh, save.", and like day to night, from that sweet voice of Reimu Hakurei she switches to that monstrous roaring voice of the zombie maiden as she tries to claw the tengu's face off.

There is a flash, even though Aya is jumping away from the zombie maiden, and Reimu expires as the lose half of her decayed body slams solidly on the ground.

The tengu looks back and sees Satori placing her hands around her third eye wile breathing hard through her mouth, and after returning a glance to the tengu she says "I guess ...I'm useful after all."

Aya doesn't care as her thoughts dwell on Reimu, and after returning her sights to the maiden her tears start flowing uncontrollably from her eyes.

"Reimu!" whimpers the girl as she shoves her friend once, then grabs her by both shoulders and shakes her as she desperately calls for the maiden, getting no response from the decaying corpse trapped underneath the large red column.

She stops shaking her friend for fear of breaking her already dried deceased body in half, then lowers her head and sobs as she rests on her knees and remembers the last time she shared tea with the maiden.

Reimu, the shrine maiden of Hakurei, Suika, the oni, Mima the evil spirit, Marisa the ordinary magician, Yukari, the boundaries master, and Aya, the lone-wolf tengu, all laughing together while sharing laughs and drinking secretly spiked tea.

The reporter lets out a chuckles when she remembers how furious the maiden got when she realized the tea had sake in it, but even as angry as she was and how badly she punished them all, they still laughed it off in the end.

And now the maiden's body lies stiff on the ground, crushed underneath the same column Aya used to kill her off.

"_No! This can't be this can't be! I killed her! I killed her I killed her I killed REIMU! How could I do this to my only friend, the only one I could talk to? She's dead she's dead and I killed her!_"

The tengu reporter now feels warm as she gets wrapped by a very gentle embrace, then Satori's soft voice echoes in her mind as she says "you didn't kill her Miss Shameimaru, she was already like this. She belongs to them now and would have killed us instead. Take those thoughts away and be strong. Be strong so that we may fulfill her final requests."

"That cauldron she mentioned, at the Scarlet Mansion. We HAVE to take care of this incident for her. There will be a time to mourn, but now it's time to be strong."

The black-haired tengu slowly returns to her senses and can see the satori maiden embracing her from behind and placing her head on her shoulder.

Still, her eyes remain a little out of place as she looks back at the satori and nods, then after finally able to gulp down her tears she says "th-th-thank you. I... we must be strong. I must, f-for Reimu's sake."

Satori slowly removes her embrace and steps back, leaving some breathing room for the tengu, then asks "can you manage to stand?"

Aya nods and Satori quickly replies "good, because it's going to start getting dark, and those monsters, those... zombies, they seem to get stronger when it's darker."

Again the tengu nods, then places her hands on the ground to support herself as she clumsily stands up.

* * *

><p>It's getting dark now, but Aya and Satori have managed to collect all the food reserves from the storage, which isn't that much, and have placed them all around the kitchen and the counters.<p>

They are now dragging the body of Sunny Milk out of the building and then throw it together with the rest of the corpses that lie next to the entrance.

"Ok, I'm going to place it now." says Aya as she takes one of the wards Reimu gave her and readies herself to place it on the wall next to the sliding doors.

"Alright. Be very careful. We are youkai after all." nervously reminds Satori as she watches the tengu from a safe distance.

Said tengu gulps as her hand with the paper ward gets closer to the wall, and when it's two inches away from touching the wall the girl repeats in her mind "DO IT-DO IT-DO IT!" and quickly flicks the thing on to the wall where it sticks, and after she does she yelps when a magnetic energy pushes her hand away.

"Did it work?" cautiously asks Satori, to which Aya turns around with a confident smile and a slightly burned right hand, flips a thumb-up at the mind-reader, and exclaims "yes, it works. Thank you for actually letting me say it!"

The satori giggles while covering her mouth, then bows her head and says "you are welcome Miss Shameimaru. Yes I agree. After turning on some lamps, we should eat some vegetables."

The tengu's black wings sprout on their own and stretch stiff on the girl's back as she shrieks "STOP DOING THAAAAT!"

The purple-haired girl laughs loud while apologizing, and after calming down she says "so we wait here for any other survivors that might come, and then we move, correct?"

Aya nods in assent and says "I am sure others will come this way, just like you and me. Hopefully they will be strong, and we can make an awesome team and take care of this whatever cauldron faster than I can fly!"

Satori smiles lightly as she nods to the tengu, then notices how the girl keeps staring at her own arm.

"Don't worry Miss Aya, you are fine, I'm sure of it. If you weren't, then you'd probably be one of them already."

The tengu chuckles nervously and asks "you didn't read my mind?"

The satori maiden lightly shakes her head, keeps staring calmly at the tengu, and then says "there was no need."

The girls smile at each other for a while, then their smiles are quickly erased upon the sound of countless moans coming from all around Gensokyo, all sounds carried by the wind to the shrine, then both remain staring at the ceiling, feeling uneasy and anxious for what awaits them in this horrible undead world.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, scenarios and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

JUN 23 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>And now I'm writing yet another story. I couldn't get it out of my head for some reason, so I wrote the first chapter. To those waiting for the crossover, I am having a lot of trouble with it right now, so it'll be put on hold. The Tales of the Almost Pirates fic is a never-ending one, so don't worry about that one being put on hold. As for Icicle Sukima, I am also working on it too.<strong>

**Also note this is yet another style of writing I am trying for the first time, and it's kind of exciting to post this. I had a dream about this a while ago, and I think it's about time to share it. As always, expect some humor to pop up here and there, though it will NOT be the center of attention of this particular fiction.**

**Take care, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story, and do leave your mark once you are done.**


	2. Into the Woods

_Day OO/XX, late Reimu Hakurei's room, Hakurei Shrine,_

_It's me, Aya Shameimaru. It's been some time since I've written a diary and thought today was the perfect opportunity to start again. Satori, the only other person that's not dead and trying to eat me suggested it would be good for my psyche. After all that's happened I think she's right. You see, I was under house arrest for three days, just because of this silly little thing. Pheh, this is why I don't like being around the other tengu. They are just so stiff. Anyway, the day I was set free I immediately went outside and headed straight to the Hakurei Shrine. I met Hatate, spanked the bitch yet again, and then something terrible happened. Monsters came and ate her, though she did curse me just before croaking, which was kind'a hilarious. Well whatever, I came to the shrine, fought a lot of smelly decaying youkai and fairies, which I now understand should be referred to as 'zombies', met Satori, fought Reimu and..._

_Anyway, me and Satori have been stuck in this shrine for three days now in hopes of meeting other survivors, and we just found out some of the food from Reimu's supply is rotten, which means we only have supplies for a day or two. We have decided that, regardless of our original wait-and-see plan, tomorrow morning we'll be going on with the other plan, the one for solving this incident; Reimu's last request. Something about this cauldron and spilling, and... I didn't fully understand. Reimu was talking funny. Still, BEFORE we head out to Remilia's mansion, Satori suggested we first go to Kourindou so that I can get supplies for my camera. The flash does kill those zombie things good, but I do need batteries and film for it to work, so yeah, I guess it's a good idea that we go there first. Dammit, I'm sure we'll have to fight more of those smelly things on the way, but there's no other choice. Well, I guess that's all for now. Oh, and just between you and me, that mind-reader is really annoying. She keeps reading my thoughts and doesn't let me say a word. It's so damned annoying. I want to kill her. ...But if I did that then I'd be all alone, and that would be much worst. At least she offers company, and-_

"That's very kind of you miss Shameimaru. I do like you too." casually says Satori as she leans to the tengu's right while glancing over the written record being printed on the typewriter.

Aya twitches with surprise; a vein pulsates on the left of her forehead, then wraps her arm around the satori's neck and furiously mutters "what the hell! Stop invading my privacy you mutant mole!"

Poor Satori struggles to remove the tengu's arm from around her neck and avoid getting chocked to the death but when she fails to do so, she pleas "Ack! Ghack! Sorry! I'm sorry! C-can't breathe!"

The girl shrieks when the tengu starts pulling on the string from her third eye that connects to her head and screams "ah, aahh-aaarrgh~ Hurt! That hurts! That **REALLY** hurts! Stop it!"

"Maybe I can close that eye of yours so you'll stop reading minds," furiously growls the tengu as she tugs harder on the string, then shouts "OFF WITH YOUR EYE!"

"That's NOT funny! Now please, let me go-**oo~**!" cries Satori as tears from the pain dangle under her eyes, and all she can do now is continue apologizing in the hopes that Aya will forgive her and let her go.

* * *

><p>And so the third day and night feel as though passed by in the blink of an eye, and in the early hours of the fourth day the unlikely duo, wearing green backpacks, walk out of the shrine and look back at the building that's kept them safe so far.<p>

Pain fills the tengu reporter as she stands three feet away from the porch and stares at the shrine silently, and in her face is a hurt look that worsens as she says "well, this is it."

"I don't believe this will be the last time we'll see this place miss Aya." softly says Satori as she keeps an arm's distance from the tengu reporter.

To her surprise, the tengu calmly replies "Reimu is dead. I killed her, remember? I'm not coming back here ever again." then watches as said girl turns slowly toward the back of the shrine.

"Let me say goodbye to her" says Aya while turning her torso around to show the satori youkai a pained smile, but no matter how hard that tengu tries to hide it a stubborn tear still escapes her right eye and quickly flows down her cheeks.

The satori nods and says "I'll accompany you." and walks after Aya, though keeping a good distance away.

There is a rustle from the bushes to the left and Satori immediately prepares herself for an attack, but nothing happens.

She looks to the tengu to ask her if she heard that noise as well, but it is obvious she didn't, seeing as she continues on her way toward the red column at the back of the shrine.

Satori ignores this, thinking it was probably the wind, and that's when a stray though "..._RUN AWAY..._" crosses the girl's mind.

She gulps; many thoughts of her own are now rushing in front of her mind as though in search of a course of action to take, but her train of thought is immediately halted the moment she lays eyes on the pile of zombie corpses she and the tengu girl had made four days ago, and notices that something seems different about it.

Meanwhile, Aya stands at the front side of the broken column, unable to find the courage she needs to take those extra steps forward and look at Reimu's corpse directly.

"I'm so sorry Reimu, but I can't do it!" whispers the tengu while staring at the column.

Inside her mind she hears Reimu's voice, saying "_and here I thought you were this all-mighty tengu. How disappointing my friend. Well, go ahead and leave, you big black chicken. Don't pay **any** respects to me. I'll just haunt you later and poke your guts in your sleep as payback!_"

This thought, though self-created, is frightening enough to make the girl shiver and make her face turn dark blue.

She gulps and yelps "must pay respects!" and takes one long and quick step forward, then gasps and exclaims "Reimu? Wh-where is SHE?"

The underside of the column is now empty, save for the blood of the maiden and the imprint of her body left there after being crushed.

From the pile of corpses several feet behind, Satori calls "hey Miss Aya, could you please come over here for a minute?"

The tengu girl quickly shouts back "Reimu's gone! Her body's not here!"

Over at the pile the satori maiden gulps and exclaims "I'm getting a very bad feeling! Let's go out of he-"

Corpses from the pile fly several feet in different directions after zombie Sunny roars and bursts free from the pile then bends over and jumps toward Satori like a wild beast.

Aya calls for the youkai girl and quickly moves to save her, but the satori is quicker and flashes a bright light from her third eye directly at the fairy.

Sunny roars in pain and falls on her stomach several feet behind the satori girl, and as quickly as she thuds she gets on all fours and takes to the sky, roaring as she flies toward the back of the shrine.

"Are you alright?" asks the concerned crow, to which the satori girl shakingly replies "y-yes I'm fine! Let's just get out of here!"

Aya looks back at the column, then back at Satori, repeats her indecisive head-turning, then finally asks "wh-what about Reimu? If that thing's alive, then- OH SHIT!"

The satori youkai runs toward the tengu and screams with fright as the many bodies of the thought-to-be-dead zombies start rising, then one-by-one many others start waking up too, moaning and hissing at the now back-to-back girls.

After four days of silent peace the song of moans returns to the Hakurei Shrine, and with it the odd brown mist and the horrible stench of death.

"Let's get the heck outta here before-"

The floor starts to tremble rhythmically along with loud booms, all the other zombies start running or flying away toward the front of the shrine, the booms the closer and closer, then the rhythmic trembling and the noise stops.

The girls shiver and whimper as they turn their attention to the storage house, and it explodes right before their very eyes.

A massive green head with missing patches of skin on the nose and under the semi-bearded chin rushes furiously toward the girls.

Its teeth have become sharp, its gums are rotten and ooze some yellow pus with coagulated blood, and its bloodstained beard is falling off bit by bit.

"GENJIIIIII!" screams Aya as she grabs Satori and jumps to the left to avoid the giant house-sized turtle's snapping bloody mouth, and as quickly as they can the girls scramble to their feet and run away from the turtle once more, leaving it to take a giant bite off the ground.

"FLY!" exclaims the satori youkai, and she and the tengu kick off the ground and distance themselves from it as fast as they can, but quickly find their progress stopped to a grinding halt.

So many flying zombie fairies and youkai block their path that they all look like one massive net, however the girls see this as a simple setback when compared to the giant shell-less turtle with the missing patches of skin on its body stretching its rotten neck and snapping its now-blood-covered teeth at them from behind.

With resolve in their eyes the girls get ready; Aya takes her camera on her right hand while Satori takes her third eye and aims it forward with both hands, then the tengu shouts "just break through! GO-GO-GO!"

The small flash from Aya's camera knocks at least seven zombies at once, but the powerful flash from Satori's eye knocks at least twenty of them with ease.

"You little cheat!" cries the tengu at the satori, who looks a little strained and whispers "help."

Having used so much power for that single attack, Satori Komeiji plummets toward a pack of hungry zombies, though is quickly picked by her new tengu friend who exclaims "bad move! Oh, you're light! Time to move!"

She wraps her left arm around the purple-haired girl's waist and takes several pictures to break through the horde of monsters waiting for them, and after she feels they are far away enough she looks back at the shrine.

The gigantic zombie turtle has thrashed the entire backyard of the shrine, and thankfully, instead of chasing after them, is completely distracted with the magical shield protecting the now-safe house, biting hard against a semi-invisible barrier around the building and roaring after being pushed back.

The smaller zombies aren't falling for that though, and are chasing after the girls as they make their escape.

A flash knocks another five near-by zombies, saving Aya's gorgeous calves once more, and then the tengu sighs with great relief and irritably exclaims "why do they want to eat my legs so badly?"

From her left, still held safely, Satori flashes yet another group and says "maybe they want some drumsticks. Please don't let me go. This flashing thing is still a little hard on me."

The tengu gives her a very curious look to which the youkai says "please trust me. Focus on flying and I'll focus on them."

Honestly there is no other choice, so the reporter turns her attention at flying toward the Forest of Magic, while the satori defends them from any zombies that might, and WILL get too close.

* * *

><p>Their flight to the forest is quite an eventful one, but Satori, though tired, managed to keep herself and Aya safe from the zombie fairies, and now they arrive at a large clearing near the entrance of said forest, where a medium-sized house with a massive glass dome on its blue roof rests undisturbed.<p>

This is Kourindou, the antique shop, and where the reporter will hopefully be able to restock on batteries and film.

As soon as they land in front of the building, the tengu places the youkai next to herself, and allows herself to be used as support for the exhausted satori.

"I think *breathe* I'm starting to get... the hang of this." says Satori almost out of breath.

Aya glances at her partner in a rather unfriendly manner, then resumes scanning the area and the building for any possible enemies, then stares at the skies.

The odd clouds covering the sun have become darker, thus blocking out more of its bright rays, and the unnatural sparks of energy around them have become violent.

"It's getting darker." casually comments the tengu girl while still staring at the clouds, then turns her attention to Kourindou and asks "don't you think it's a little too quiet?"

The satori knows she's been ignored rather bluntly, but she blames her powers for that knowledge and understands the bird-girl's still miffed about the whole mind-reading thing.

Not wanting to irritate the tengu she keeps this knowledge to herself and says "y-yes, it's been getting quite dark. ...And I agree with you. It's far too quiet. Something must be up." then straightens up and dusts her shirt, signaling she's as ready as she can be.

The tengu nods and says "well then, let's go." and she and the youkai take slow and cautious steps toward the store.

The door creaks softly as it's gently pushed open all the way, then Aya enters cautiously with her camera ready, followed by the jumpy Satori whom nervously looks around as she enters the building.

The store is dark, but not as dark as the shrine's living house was, mostly thanks to the crystal dome on its top.

The front has two shelves, and while one is littered with rather useless-looking things, the other has been completely knocked down and its contents have scattered all over the ground.

Other than that the building looks like it's been uninhabited for some time, evident because of the coat of dust collecting on top of all the furniture and store goods, and the spider-webs forming on the corners.

"Let's check the back," commands the tengu after making sure the store is clear of any monsters.

The satori girl nods and even though she rather just place a protective ward on the building just to be safe, but regardless of how she feels she keeps close to the reporter while following commands, even when **she** is as nervous as herself.

They walk past Rinnosuke's desk and walk into the right door, right into the dark, cramped and small corridor leading to the bathroom and bedroom.

"I-i-it's so d-dark." whispers the nervous satori girl, to which the tengu equally nervously whispers "n-no choice. I-if there's something here I rather flush it out now."

The floor below them creaks as they make their way through the corridor, both breathing hard through their noses in order to keep up with their hard-beating hearts.

They reach the first door leading to the bathroom; Aya takes the doorknob, looks back at Satori, then gulps hard before whispering "ok, I'll open the door now. I-if anything moves you flash its damned eyes off!"

The purple-haired girl nods rapidly, though the tengu is unsure if that's her nodding or if her violently-trembling body is causing her head to bobble around.

Regardless, she nods back and slowly opens the door, which creaks for a second just before opening completely.

At the end of the unnaturally dark room is the large wooden bathtub, there's a dirty mop leaning against the wall to the left of the tub, and at the room's entrance there are what look like a set of the owner's spare clothes on top of a hamper.

"Good, nothing here." sighs Aya, then the mop tips over and she and Satori scream while flashing the room repeatedly, then the satori girl stops and shouts "it's ok-it's ok, it was just the mop!"

Having flashed the room so much allowed the girl to take a better look around and see there was nothing; though the tengu is still so shaken up she's clenching her teeth hard and taking an occasional picture with her camera, just to be on the safe side.

It takes a whole minute for the tengu to finally calm down and stop taking pictures, though can't close her mouth due to her need to breathe hard and fast through her teeth while her heart threatens to burst right out of her chest.

"Next door!" exclaims the freaked-out tengu, to which she and her partner walk out of the bathroom and unwisely rush to the bedroom door.

They stand in front of that door and the satori youkai calmly says "on three", then the tengu shouts "THREE!" and tackles the door while screaming.

She's gotten so nervous her wings have popped out of her back which tear a bit of fabric from her shirt, and now she kneels on the ground with her camera held high, her wings spread, and a terrified look on her face.

"Empty," calmly says Satori.

Aya looks around and progressively breathes slower as her heart settles, and now takes a better look at the strangely empty room.

What little light shines from outside enters through the two windows at the corner, but other than the tatami flooring and the slightly-opened closet, there's nothing else of interest.

"Th-the closet!" nervously exclaims the tengu when she sees something sparkle within it, then cautiously approaches it.

After a gulp, the girl grabs the door and pulls it open, yelps and jumps back, and aims her camera forward while trembling and turning her head away.

The satori youkai slowly uncovers her ears and opens her eyes, and softly says "i-it's ok Miss Aya. It's only clothes."

The tengu girl slowly opens her eyes and turns her head toward the closet, then wipes her sweating forehead while letting lose one loud and long sigh of relief.

"I-hit's just clothes." chuckles the tengu while loosening her grip on her camera, then her smile brightens up as her chuckle becomes an excited giggle.

"W-what is it? What did you find?" asks the satori maiden, even though she already knows what the tengu girl found.

After rummaging for a bit under the hanged blue and black obi shirts Aya pulls herself out of the closet holding a silver rectangle with a black lens on its center.

She hugs the item while giggling excitedly, then says "this is Rinnosuke's digital camera! Oh-ho-hoo~! He taught me how to use it but never let me try it."

A wry grin takes the tengu's face as she chuckles maliciously and says "well, now that he's not here, I'm sure he won't mind me taking it~."

The satori maiden sweats and chuckles nervously while reading into the devious girl's heart, and though able to see the selfish thoughts she manages to calmly say "ho-how wonderful for you."

Meanwhile Aya is turning the camera on and checking every detail of it, finds a small blue card in it that reads **4GB** and says "whoa, four giga- erm, somethings. Whatever; this thing's huge. I'll be able to take many wonderful pictures and post them on my paper. Of course, that's AFTER we solve this incident. This'll be GREAT! You and I will-"

While the tengu continues her elaboration on how perfect that camera will be for scoops, a thought crosses Satori, who calmly asks "do you know where the food storage is?"

"-and then, after we're rich and famous I'll-the wha?"

The tengu girl's bubble bursts quite abruptly and her face completely changes from excited reporter to frightened child, then chuckles nervously before managing to say "oh, heh that's right. The kitchen should be on the other door. L-let's go there now."

* * *

><p>The girls exit the bedroom and walk into the narrow corridor again, though leave the bedroom's door open so that some light can shine through.<p>

As they walk past the open bathroom door Aya freezes up, looks inside the dark room with a horrified stare, the shrieks and jumps on Satori's back.

"KYAH! What do you think you're doing-OOF!" screams the poor satori before falling flat on her chest.

The crow tengu jumps on her feet then turns the satori around and exclaims "there's something in there!" while pointing at the bathroom.

Both girls enter the dark bathroom one more time, and thanks to the bit of light coming from the bedroom they can see all within, which is the fallen mop next to the bathtub, and the fallen spare clothes near the entrance.

Disregarding the tengu's reluctance to mind-reading, Satori sighs irritably and says "you just felt a draft! Look, there's nothing in here, now let's go to the kitchen and take as much food as we can."

Aya nods and shakingly says "g-good idea. L-let's do that and l-ll-l-LEAVE!"

At the kitchen the girls find a well-preserved supply of fruits and vegetables along with some rice, and a bottle of sake the tengu girl immediately confiscated for herself.

"Hold still please." says the satori maiden as she stuffs some bags of rice inside Aya's backpack, then proceeds to fill her own backpack with carefully packed produce... and that's when it finally hit her.

"_Those clothes at the bathroom's entrance... They were placed on TOP of the hamper, yet when we went inside the second time-_"

Even though she's not done the satori closes the backpack and places it on, and hurriedly says "let's get out of here right now!" to which the tengu eagerly nods to.

They walk out the kitchen, rush past the dusty desk, run past the shelves, and as soon as they exit the front door they feel their bodies being electrocuted repeatedly while keeping them in place.

The undead Reimu, whose right eye now dangles from the socket, smiles as she hovers down in front of the girls, shows them a pair of charms on each hand and as soon as she lands she bends slightly and slides her hands up their shirts until they are firmly placed on each girls' chest.

A powerful jolt of energy causes both girls to grunt, then Reimu growls "no more flying little piggies."

She flies ten feet off the ground while holding the paralyzed girls by their chests, tosses Satori to the left, takes a spell card on her free hand, then growls "this is for the crushing, you bitch!"

She places the spell card right between the tengu's eyes and roars "Yin-Yang Desecration Orb!"

A massive black orb with blood-red outlines grows right on the tengu's head, and though she tries to scream the searing and freezing pain drains her of the strength to do so.

Her body lies sprawled on the floor of Kourindou, and there's a large hole on the roof now, probably where she came through, but that's all the semi-conscious girl can make out at the moment.

The zombie maiden rushes through the ceiling's hole, lands a vicious knee on the tengu's stomach, and quickly bites her right shoulder while the girl jerks her body forward from the impact, making the reporter arc her weakened body backward and scream out loud in pain.

The blood of the tengu sprays all over the deceased maiden's face as she tries to rip a good chunk of skin off the girl.

Aya screams and squirms but is still too weak and stunned to manage to push the monster away, and out of desperation the tries punching the back of the sweet-smelling zombie.

Tears flow down her eyes due to the unending pain, she feels what little consciousness she has left leave her as her sleeve is ripped off, then sees a powerful flash before her eyes, and then relief fills her.

"AYA! Are you alright? Speak to me!" cries out Satori as she flashes Reimu a second time.

The zombie maiden screeches as she covers her face and jumps back, knocking the remaining shelf against the nearest wall, and while the items on it fall from the tilted display, the zombie maiden jumps behind the desk.

The satori rushes to the tengu to try and aid her wound, but quickly finds herself chocking in the mighty grip of the zombie maiden, who growls "Gods Binding Circle!"

The zombie's hand is surrounded by a black mass and a red circle forms right under the satori.

Even being chocked the girl screams when a mighty blood-red beam rises from the circle and both burns and freezes her entire body.

As soon as the spell ends the zombie maiden turns the weakened moaning satori maiden around and grips tight enough to make her neck crack, then winds her back and rams her through the tilted shelf three times before said shelf turns to wood chips.

Again, she turns the satori girl around with ease, holds her by the shoulders and admires the bloody mess and bruises on her face, stretches her bloodied lips to a smile, opens her mouth wide and leans over to the satori's neck, then stops.

Her bloody smile disappears, and then the maiden looks behind herself, grunts with frustration, then tosses Satori to Aya's left, spilling some of the packed fruits from the satori's backpack and wheezes "you will play the game and reach the eeeennnd. There I will feast on both.", then flies away, hissing as she does.

* * *

><p>The reporter is not really certain how long she's been out, but by the time she wakes up it's already night.<p>

Through the hole on the roof Aya can see how those unnatural clouds in the sky, which look creepy enough during the day, seem to take life and move about at night, like eerie cloaked ghouls patrolling the night skies in misty vessels.

She looks to her left and finds Satori lying on the floor next to her, and breathing, to the tengu's great relief.

Her eyes adjust as she resumes looking around, and then finally decides to sit.

She groans softly as she gets up and she immediately remembers her shoulder and quickly pats it, though gently.

"Healed," whispers the surprised tengu when, other than the ripped-off sleeve and the bloodied fabric, her shoulder is perfectly fine.

She looks around the store some more now that her eyes have adjusted, and quickly notices a pair of feet slowly making their way from outside, visible through the open front door.

The girl gulps when she looks at the decaying figure of Rinnosuke Morichika as he moans and slowly walks over toward the store, going straight for her and the satori maiden.

He wears his blue and black obi as per-usual, but it's so stained in blood it almost look completely black, and half of his head is missing its skin, plus what little hair is left on him looks dry and about ready to fall.

His glasses look ominous in front of his white orbs for eyes, and his mouth oozes what looks like black balls of blood.

Aya tries to scream but fails, and automatically kicks herself backward, then notices Rinnosuke winding himself backward.

As if knowing what's coming next, the tengu screams "SATORI!" and impulses herself to fall on top of the girl and use the momentum to roll away together.

A mere second later one of those black blood balls splats right where the satori was just a moment ago and starts fizzling and slowly eats through the wooden floor.

The tengu girl whimpers while breathing through her mouth and kicks herself backward with the satori still unconscious on her lap, and makes sure they are out of sight of the open door after bumping against the wall.

"Satori! Satori, wake up! PLEASE WAKE UP!" screams the desperate tengu while gently slapping the girl's face.

The satori moans as she slowly wakes up, then grunts and winces when the pain from the beating she got reaches her.

The tengu gently brushes her fingers through the bruises on Satori's forehead and cheeks and whispers "wha... what happened to you?"

Aya screams with fright when she realizes three zombie fairies have entered the building through the front door, but quickly composes herself, takes her camera on hand, and takes two quick photos, flashing the fairies to their temporary deaths, and that's when a terrible knowledge hits her.

There's something banging on the bedroom's window, moans, hisses and lamentations surround the entire area, and now it seems zombie Rinnosuke has decided to enter the building himself, and to make matters worse, some flying rotting youkai foxes are entering through the broken ceiling.

The tengu takes a picture to rid of the semi-skinned foxes and watches as their bodies splat on the ground where she and the satori lay before, splashing coagulated blood all around themselves.

Her camera starts rewinding, and the satori girl is still struggling to wake up, Rinnosuke has them on his sight and is winding back again, so Aya grabs Satori once again and jumps away as fast as her legs allow her.

The black blood ball splats on the floor a second after the tengu jumped away and the zombie now moans with frustration; or at least seems that way.

He turns over to the girls once more, and although Aya's camera has just stopped rewinding and has no film, the tengu takes the photo while shouting "stop trying to kill us you stupid four-eyes!"

The flash comes out, surprising the girl, and as soon as it hits the zombie half youkai he gurgles as he falls and that black coagulated blood oozes out of his mouth, sizzling on the floor as it eats through it.

The tengu looks at her camera with surprise and says "well, I learned something new just now. Don't really need the film. **But what good's a photo without FILM!** Scoops are worth nothing without proof!"

The window at the bedroom crashes, but the tengu girl ignores it and furiously rummages through her pockets for new film for her camera.

There is a bright flash in the room, followed by several thuds, and when the reporter looks to her left she sees the satori with her arms around her third eye and looking back at her in disbelief.

"This is no time for that miss Aya!" exclaims the satori as she gets up on her feet, then extends her arm to the tengu to help her up and says "just use that digi- um, di-gi-tal one! The new one!"

Feeling a little stupid the tengu smacks her own head, finishes preparing her old camera, then pulls the digital camera out of her pocket and aims it at the door as she turns it on.

"Here they come!" shouts the tengu when several greenish ghouls and a zombie fairy enter rush to the door.

She takes a single photo, and the flash from that camera is so intense all the monsters that entered the building immediately drop on the ground around Rinnosuke.

"That was awesome!" exclaims Aya.

"Let's get out of here while we can!" shouts Satori, and now the girls run out the door, using zombie Rinnosuke's decaying body as a doormat, and when clear of the building they jump to the air and fall straight back down.

"WHAT THE HELL!" screams the tengu, to which Satori excitedly replies "the charms!"

Both girls hop on their feet, slightly pull down on their shirts, and can see a charm placed directly on their skins underneath all their clothes.

"What do we do **what do we do?**" rapidly asks the nervous tengu.

Before the satori can answer the sounds of laments echo closer to the girls' location, apparently coming from behind the shop, and somehow these laments affect the youkai girl the most.

She covers her ears and starts to cry, and out of apparent despair she screams "**JUST RUN!**"

The second the girls run into the forest, a grand total of five lamenting spirits chase after them.

Spirits are common in Gensokyo, but never like these. All are translucent green and lament almost incessantly, hissing on rare occasions.

The two males wear hooded cloaks, have glowing red eyes, and carry with them bloodstained swords, while the females have their hoods down, allowing their snake-like long hair flow with the wind, they have no actual face but do have a mouth, have large sharp fangs for teeth, and their nails are long and sharp enough to skewer an oni.

These spirits chase after the grounded girls into the trees and let out a loud lamenting wail the second they disappear from the clearing.

Aya and Satori run as fast as they can through the thick woods, and find themselves flashing desperately as more zombie fairies and youkai try to get them.

"Run! Run and don't stop! Flash them but don't stop!" desperately cries the satori maiden.

"Why? What's wrong? Why are you crying like that?" nervously asks the tengu.

The purple-haired girl sobs, slows down to cover her ears again, and then shouts "I'M SCARED! OKUU! ORIN!"

The black-haired tengu skids to a stop and rushes to save the terrified satori from two naked zombie fairies, which are missing large chunks of skin from their bloody bodies, flashes them out of the way, then grabs the girl by the arm and exclaims "this is NOT the time to break down!"

The wailing laments reach the girls and Satori's face turns blue from fright, her limbs lock in the fetal position, and though paralyzed, her tears flow uncontrollably, and it's at this very moment when Aya's own selfish side surfaces.

"_Leave the crying bitch and run! You're better off without her! JUST MOVE!_" she thinks to herself, but then catches herself thinking such things and screams "what the- ...WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?"

The laments get stronger; both girls start losing their heads and now find themselves at the mercy of five mutated spirits who continue lamenting without stop, even though they surround the girls.

Anger rises within the tengu as she lays her eyes on the satori, and thoughts of murdering the youkai rush to her mind.

She grabs the terrified girl by her hair, stares into her blank eyes, then says "why not? She's just another bitch that's getting in my way. Nobody will miss-"

"Okuu~! Orin~! Koishi~! Koishi please~!" softly cries the satori girl while lost in her own fears; and Aya stops.

The spirits float closer, they surround the girls in an enclosed circle, eagerly raise their hands and swords, and swing with all their might.

The tengu screams and drops on her back, takes her old camera, and takes a picture.

Everything is clam, the area around the girls is completely clear of any monsters, and now Aya lies with her arms and legs spread face-up on the ground next to the crying satori, and allows her eyes to slowly close on their own, not caring whether they will be attacked or not anymore.

* * *

><p>"Hang in there sis" says the blurry image of Koishi Komeiji, with her grayish-green hair and her yellow and green clothes slowly burning away as Satori's own consciousness rushes back to reality.<p>

"KOISHI!" screams Satori when she springs up from the ground, and breathes heavily through her mouth as she sits on a patch of grass while recovering her bearings.

It's still night, they are in the forest of magic, it is eerily quiet save for the gentle blow of the wind, and slowly she remembers all that has happened to that point; and then she remembers Aya.

"Why should we go on, huh?" asks the tengu, who sits just a few feet to the right on a rock while looking at the frightening sky.

She looks at the satori youkai and asks "why should we fix all this? Why not let things be? Let them kill us for all I care, it's just not worth it."

The bright smile that usually fills this girl's face is gone, and replacing it is the look of despair and hopelessness that threatens to consume the satori as well.

She quickly picks up on the tengu's self-destructive thoughts, but before she can say anything about it, Aya jumps to her feet and waves her fists around while shouting "ARGH! MORE OF THEM? GO TO HELL ALREADY! DIE, JUST DIE YOU FREAKS!"

Two blurs, one whitish, the other blue, zip through the surrounding area, giggling vilely while stalking their prey and unsettling the already stressed nerves of the girls.

Satori gasps then shouts "IT'S THEM!", and rage quickly takers her as she readies herself to flash these monsters to hell.

Aya prepares the digital camera and scowls while moving backward to join the satori.

Once they are back-to-back the tengu says "this is futile, but hell will freeze a hundred times over before I let _these_ things take my life!"

Satori smiles when the tengu's thoughts completely turn around to something far more admirable than self-destruction and says "yes, that's right. Miss Aya let's fight these things, if not for others then for ourselves. Let's show them we are better than they are."

The tengu girl smirks and nods, then raises her camera; and not a second too soon.

The white blur zips from the tengu's right and tries to tackle the girl, but she takes the picture and the blur immediately rushes back to the trees.

The digital picture reveals it's none-other than Luna Child, and she's missing her hat, her white dress is stained with dried blood on the back, her eyes seem to glow white, and her bloodied mouth is missing the lower lips.

"Fairy trio!" grunts the tengu as she prepares for another attack, then she and the satori push themselves together when one of the fairies cackles.

A raspy voice echoes in the area as she says "pretty words from tasty eye-girl~!"

Another raspy voice, this one a little more high-pitched adds "I wonder if she'll taste as good as the bird?"

"OKUU!" exclaims Satori, whose face turns bright red with fury as she demands "what did you do to her? What happened to Okuu?"

The two zombie fairies giggle again, this time sinisterly enough to send chills through the girls' legs up to their very heads.

There is a long pause, all sounds stop, then a tree explodes to the left and the girls now find themselves pinned to the ground and pushing back on one surprisingly strong fairy each, both snapping their teeth as they attempt to eat the faces off their targets.

On top of satori is Star Sapphire, whose hair has become hard and dry, her lips are missing, showing off her bare blood-stained yellow teeth, and her entire blue and white dress is stained in fresh blood.

The fairy doesn't struggle much with the satori and manages to mimic a smile with what skin is left dangling around her mouth, and with her raspy high-pitched voice says "one bite and you join Okuu with us."

The monster giggles as she allows the satori to see Okuu's cape around her waist, tied with one of Orin's ribbons, then says "they screamed, called to you in delicious way! *Hiss* You scream too, no?"

Satori's mind drifts, and images of Okuu, her raven-black haired hell crow youkai, and Orin, her red-haired dark-dressing kasha youkai, flash right before her very eyes.

She can hear them calling her name happily, smiling and laughing and enjoying their time with their master Satori, but the images suddenly flash and the last she sees of her pets in her mind is a coughing kasha and a vomiting hell raven, and can hear their death screams as they are devoured alive.

"**NOOOOO!**" screams the satori maiden when she uses her blind rage to push the zombie fairy off and showers her with intense flashes that kill off more zombie fairies over a good distance away.

"**OKUU! ORIN!**" screams the girl as she grab the zombie Luna by her back and throws her against the body of Star, then showers them both with more intense flashes, pulls a spell card form her pocket and shouts "**Recollection Terrifying Hypnotism!**"

A curtain of lasers, large bullets, and massive magical orbs shower onto the unmoving bodies of the decaying fairies, and even though they get pulverized repeatedly, the satori maiden continues to blast them relentlessly.

Aya finds herself jumping behind the rock she was sitting on a few moments ago to avoid getting caught by the distraught satori's attack, and from it she shouts "cut it out! You're going to blast ME, you idiot!"

As soon as it had started the spell stops, and the sound of explosions is replaced by loud sobs and sniffles.

The tengu peeks over the rock with caution and can see Satori kneeling next to the ashes of the fairies, embracing a bloodstained cape and a red ribbon while repeating the names of her pets.

"_Crap, there's no time for this._" thinks the tengu as she gets out of hiding and walks over to her companion.

Now she too wants to cry when she sees the purple-haired girl crying so much while holding to those pieces of clothes as though she were holding her beloved pets.

At first the tengu thought of pulling the satori on her feet and forcing her to move, but seeing this pathetic scenery has changed her train of thoughts, and now feels she could cry too.

"_Crap, I can't do it! Think Aya, think! Uuu, I'm no good with pep-talks but..._"

The tengu leans closer to Satori, places a hand on her shoulder, which is met by the pained girl's own hand and sudden grip, then smiles as friendly-like as she can and happily says "l-look, i-it's not bad. You, um, can always get another pet, right?"

Of all the bad choices of words she could have picked, she chose the worst possible ones, and now the satori girl cries so loudly that her voice echoes annoyingly far.

The tengu panics and jumps away, then shouts "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean it like that! It's just-"

"_Shit, I made it worst! That poor girl! I can't leave her like this, but we cannot linger either. That's it, I'm going to have to carry her!_"

Again she approaches the satori and says "I'm sorry; just please calm down. Come on, I'll carry you for a while," then leans over to pick the girl, but she stops when she notices the ashes of the fairies expanding like a bloody meat mound.

Her face loses all color when the creatures revive looking quite lively, but their new appearance is the reason the poor crow tengu is unable to even whimper.

Star's head is on top of a dripping mass of rotten flesh and her wings and one skinny arm take the left side, while Luna's eye-less head is on what should be the creature's stomach, and she moans loudly while seemingly trying to escape from the new hideous form.

The monster swings its arm and smacks the girls with the back of it, sending both flying away backward.

Aya's heart races as she scrambles on her feet while Satori slowly gets back up, sniffling and cleaning her face with her sleeves and still embracing her pet's clothes, and says "fla-flash together."

The tengu silently nods, but the satori girl is aware of the acknowledgment, so she prepares her third eye while the tengu raises her camera.

Star's head gurgles and spits out a disgusting smelling yellow fluid that drips on Luna's head, causing her to moan louder and forcing the body to somehow move forward, though slower than a snail's pace.

The girls refuse to give it the chance and flash it thrice at the same time.

Both heads roar loud in pain, the body starts to sizzle, and slowly turns to a fleshy puddle that smells like a hundred rotting rats in a clogged sewer.

The tengu and the satori rapidly step back to avoid being touched by this vile liquid, and just like that it evaporates within seconds, leaving two separate naked bodies of the zombie fairies on the ground.

Again, the area grows quiet and only a loud whoosh in the sky can be heard.

Aya, once again approaches Satori, kneels next to her, gently grabs the cape and ribbon, and softly says "I'll put these in your backpack, but when I do we have to start moving. It's just a matter of time before we're attacked again, and I rather we find somewhere safe before that. Understand?"

The youkai nods and allows the tengu to take the pieces of clothes.

She places them inside the backpack, helps the grieving girl on her feet, and without saying another word they move forward.

Before disappearing into the trees Satori softly says "thank you for helping me," while looking down to the ground, and although the tengu prefers to keep quiet and keep moving, she thinks "_you're welcome,_" as gently as her mind will allow.

* * *

><p>Their walk through the forest is a tense, yet uneventful one.<p>

Surrounding them is the symphony of moans of the many zombies and whatever else is out there, along with an unnatural whooshing from above that's so loud, it muffles the thud of their steps.

"Come on, I think I know where we are," says Aya while glancing behind at Satori, who looks about ready to drop with grief again.

The girl's eyes are baggy and bloodshot, her lips are stiff, and even her short hair seems to be drooping down with depression.

Completely devoid of any hope the satori bluntly asks "and you really believe Miss Marisa is alive? And if she is, you think that selfish brat will actually help us?"

"_Please stop reading my mind_" politely thinks the tengu, and then says "well, Marisa may be a pretty selfish human, but even she is decent enough to help someone in need. ...Sometimes."

"Well then let's hope she's decent enough to eat us and not rape our bodies while she does!" angrily replies the youkai.

The tengu remains silent and turns her attention forward once more, hiding the awkwardness she's feeling at the moment.

The rest of the way, though short, is awkwardly silent, and after forcing their way through an unnaturally tall bush the girls enter the clearing where Marisa's house is.

The house rests at the center of the clearing, it is quite large in size, some windows and part of the roof are taken over by thick vines that seem to have grown tentacle-like stems that flail about for no visible reason, and again, the inside of the house looks dark.

Aya sighs, feeling her heart get heavy with the sensation of defeat, lowers her head, and says "I guess I got my hopes up for not-"

"Normal brainwaves? There's someone in that house, and she's actually thinking coherently!" exclaims the satori, cutting the tengu off in an attempt to raise the girl's spirit, feeling a bit guilty of trying to drain the tengu from what little hope she was clinging to.

Said tengu girl raises her head again, a giggle escapes her as her lips stretch side-to-side to form a smile, then says "finally, a break! Can you tell who it is?"

From the bushes and trees behind the house the girls are being watched, and whatever has set its attention on the survivors hisses and growls unfriendly-like, and moves around slowly without disturbing any leaves from the bush it hides in.

It can hear when Satori says "I-it's Marisa! She seems to be as lively as ever!"

The stalker hisses long and softly, and then rushes away from the area, making some powerful gusts and a loud whoosh that linger after it's long gone.

"What's that?" anxiously asks Aya while she and Satori hold hands with fear.

A tear escapes the satori youkai's eyes when she starts to tremble, and after taking a big gulp and settles her heart back into her chest she whimpers "please no more attacks. I can't take another one. T-too many! It's too much!"

The reporter frees her left hand and pulls on the satori while saying "come on! Let's hurry inside! I'm with you on this one, I'm NOT in the mood for another attack right now!" then rushes forward, tackles the door open, glances around the darkness as fast as she can, pulls Satori inside, then closes the door with haste.

The inside of the house is dark, and since it's still nighttime even youkai eyes fail to see the surroundings; that is until a set of lamps hanging from strategic points in the house light up on their own.

"It's even messier than you remember," casually says Satori, and quickly finds herself being held by her shoulders and shaken by Aya, who roars "stop. doing. THAT!"

The floors in the house have always been littered with piles and piles of all kinds of 'collected' junk stolen by the witch, but at least there was a visible path where a person could walk before.

Now there is so much junk than that even the steps to the second floor look like a deathtrap waiting to happen.

As they look at their surroundings, the tengu starts feeling strangely uncomfortable and her hearts starts beating a little too hard for her taste.

Slow thuds come from the second floor and the jumpy tengu immediately releases the satori and shivers as she looks up the stairs, ignoring the thud and the complain by the youkai girl after she falls to the ground.

"Get up" whispers the tengu as she takes slow steps back to the door, then trips on some rock and falls on her butt, then quickly notices when the satori stuffs a black tube in her backpack's side pocket.

The thuds from the second floor stop when a familiar, yet slightly different frame stands tall on top of the stairs, and with a raspy tomboyish voice Marisa calls "oi! Who's down there? Don't touch my stuff, ze!"

"Marisa!" exclaims Aya. "Finally, a familiar voice that's not trying to kill us!"

Unlike the tengu, Satori looks terrified at the figure of the witch, and breathes rapidly through her teeth as she kicks herself backward until she reaches the wall.

The tengu stares at Satori for a moment and softly asks "what the ma-a-a?" then looks up the stairs and the shock of what she sees causes her tokin to flip right off her head, twist once in the air and fall to the ground as she finishes "-TER?"

The witch takes a step down and the tengu girl gulps and whimpers while taking her tokin and attempts to crawl away.

Marisa sighs with frustration and says "look, I know my hands look icky and all that, but really, it's nothing to be so damned afraid of."

Neither girl is able to answer as they stare at the witch, both out of the fear that's taking away their breath, and now their instincts of self-preservation start to kick in.

They stare horrorstruck at the girl, unable to believe their rotten luck.

The witch's hair has fallen off completely, her face is completely dry and her skin is stuck on her very bones, printing them outside the seemingly decaying flesh.

Her eyes look slightly normal with an actual irises, but being two orbs hanging in the center of two black holes doesn't really appeal to the sight, and from what the girls can tell this witch hasn't even looked at a mirror yet, thus is unknowledgeable of her current state.

Though she acts friendly the girls fear the witch might turn on them, and at the same time neither is sure if it would be wise to tell that girl about her current looks in case she's friendly.

The bony witch reaches the bottom stairs and manages to literally crack a smile and says "jeez, how rude. I guess I should start wearing gloves or something, but considering everyone's a zombie now... Hey wait! Why aren't _you_ guys zombies?"

Satori's answer is a nervous peep, then she and the tengu quickly get on their feet and shower the witch with flashes while shouting incoherently.

"OI, OI! OW, OW, OW, **OUCH!** Dammit, STOP IT!" screams the witch while she covers her eyes with her skinny arms.

"Stardust Reverie!" she shouts, and several stars fly from her hands straight at the nervous girls, knocking them on their backs while the skeleton-witch furiously flails her arms in the air.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU SICK FLASHING BITCHES!" exclaims the girl while Satori and Aya slowly get on their knees.

The skinny witch rubs her eyes with her bony hands and walks away, mumbling curses at the girls and says "stupid side-effects aren't WORTH immortality." under her breath.

The surprised tengu scrambles on to her feet and asks "wait, sorry! I mean wait, are you going to try to eat us?"

Still kneeling on the ground the satori says "I'm sorry, I should have read your mind sooner, but I was so frightened, I-"

"**Frightened?**" asks Marisa, then lifts her bony arms and wiggles her skeletal fingers and asks "because of these? Gimmie a break you cowards! True, the immortality potion I... we made had that odd side-effect on everyone, but at least didn't make **me** a mindless zombie, for some reason."

"So THAT'S the cauldron Miss Reimu talked about! Kirisame, how could you?" exclaims the satori youkai while looking frightened toward the witch.

Aya looks back at the youkai and asks "what is it? What about the cauldron."

Marisa's raspy groans sounds like a raging gurgle, and while face-palming says "dammit, I REALLY hate that girl."

The purple-haired girl hurriedly gets on her feet and exclaims "she tricked everyone into making an immortality potion for herself! It went wrong and that's why all of this has happened!"

Her hands shake with fury as she finishes "that's why Okuu and Orin are dead.", then gulps loudly and lets out a sob, and cries "that's why WE are suffering like this!"

"Listen, that was just a side-effect of the experiment! Look, I'm immortal now! Just give me a bit and I'll find a way to fix-"

The bony witch cuts her own sentence when she notices the hateful glares from the tengu and the satori, sighs, then says "bah, attack me all you want! Even if you burn me with those damned flashes I'll just keep coming back again and again!"

"You selfish brat!" exclaims Satori, then Aya grins almost too mischievously and asks "so Marisa, tell me something. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?"

The witch stares at the tengu while managing to slightly raise her left eyebrow, then asks "what are you talking about?"

The tengu takes her fan, swings it to create a strong gust, and in doing so reveals a tall mirror covered with a cloth to Marisa's right, then shouts "now look! Look at the truth Kirisame!"

The witch lowers her arms from her face while exclaiming "you insane bird, what the hell is your-", then takes a look at her reflection on the mirror and stops moving.

"Heh, I'm sure that you'll work on that remedy now, right?" asks the tengu while grinning victoriously.

Satori is doing her very best to suppress her desire to attempt to murder this skeletal human, but after looking deeper into the witch's mind she explodes with fury.

"YOU! So SELFISH and so proud of being such! You disgust me! Even after you saw the villagers and all those youkai and fairies, you don't CARE! You still don't give a shit!"

Aya has to step in and get in the satori's way to prevent her from using a spell card, then keeping a stern look on the witch she says "I bet you'll want to reverse all this right now. You'll want your pretty looks back, and while you're at it you might as well fix all of this."

Marisa remains standing as she was, staring straight into that mirror and focusing only on herself.

She manages to take a few stiff steps straight toward the mirror and holds it by the sides, then gargles as she breathes through her mouth.

Satori and Aya watch the girl with caution since they are unable to read any emotions from the girl as she is, and seems her mind isn't doing much either save for thoughts of hair.

"GET DOWN!" shouts the satori youkai, and she jumps on the tengu to knock her down, avoiding decapitation by the large mirror as it flies toward them.

The witch's screams mix with the crashing of the mirror, then both girls roll toward the exit and avoid more flying junk as well as green sparks.

Marisa screams like a deranged psychopath while covering her face and shooting all manner of spells and bullets from her aura field all around the house, while at the same time emanating so much energy her junk takes life and now flies around the house, threatening to harm the unlikely duo.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" screams Aya so that Satori can hear her over the witch's screams and the loud crashing of items all round them.

The satori youkai rapidly crawls to the door, and now the lights inside the house flicker rapidly, making everything more confusing for the girls.

Something blunt strikes the tengu on the neck, but she is too desperate and anxious to care much for it now. All her attention is on getting the hell out of the house.

The girls reach the door but Satori can't grab the knob long enough to pull it open, so Aya pulls the girl away, grabs that doorknob, and even though she's cut by shards of glass several times she pulls on that door until it's fully open and quickly crawls outside, followed promptly by the satori, who gets struck by the door on the butt just as she exits through it.

After they are outside and at a safe distance away from the thundering house, the satori girl holds her back-seat and exclaims "that really hurt!"

The tengu looks at the back of her hands and winces at the burning pain from the cuts, shakes the excess blood off, then says "you were right about that girl Satori."

There is a moment of pause, the tengu girl sniffles, and though smiling she cries "what now? We can't fly, everything wants to kill us, and the culprit of this mess is no help. So what now?"

The girl lets out a loud sob while the satori looks away.

The tengu pats the back of her own neck to make sure whatever hit her didn't break anything, and promptly finds that very thing that hit resting inside the collar of her shirt.

It's a surprisingly large Tiger's eye stone, but not really caring for such things the black-haired girl thinks of throwing it away, but instead, for some inexplicable reason, she reaches into her own backpack, places the stone within, then sighs and looks to the house where Marisa screams as she rages on and destroys everything inside.

* * *

><p>The night has turned cold, the girls are feeling exhausted, and to make matters worse it seems the blood from Aya's cut hands is attracting attention to them, and thus both move as fast as they can while keeping their guard up.<p>

They walk between a cluster of trees and unnaturally large mushrooms and flash to the left when what looks like a large two-faced gorilla with a rotten stomach tries to rush them.

The monster falls down on its back and makes a loud crash and a strong tremor, then the smell of its rotting guts reaches the girls.

The tengu has to cover her mouth to avoid herself from throwing up, but ends up staggering to the cluster of trees to her right to dispose of that sour substance.

Satori isn't as lucky and ends up returning in front of herself, though much less than the tengu.

After wiping their mouths with the back of their arms the girls glance at each other, run forward as far away from the smell, then drop on the ground to catch their breaths.

"We *pant* have to get out of these woods," says the satori girl as she holds her chest.

She looks up at the tengu and notices the exhaustion on the girl's face, then realizes her own when her vision becomes a bit blurred.

But they can't fall asleep here, they have to get out of the forest as soon as they can, and then she smiles when an idea reaches her, and says "i-it's Marisa. H-her mind is messed up. Sh-she's blaming us Miss Aya! We have to get out of here."

Though she talks as though the witch was after them she still tells the truth, and heavens know whether or not that witch will eventually start chasing after them out of some idea of retribution.

The tengu manages to get on her feet, and out of fright she says "let's move! If she catches us now she's going to torture us."

"Don't you mean kill us?" asks Satori while struggling to stand up, then notices the look of fright in Aya's eyes as the tengu shakes her head and says "that sadistic bitch? She'll probably rape us before killing us."

The satori girl gulps. Though she knows this is a blatant lie she feels there is more truth in those words than she can realize.

The sound of flesh being impaled repeatedly nearby reaches the girls and unsettles their nerves, then the reporter whimpers "what was that?"

The satori girl shivers while slowly looking around and with a high-pitched whimpering tone she says "I don't know."

They don't give it much thought and start running away from the source of the sound.

They can hear constant hissing coming from behind the trees and bushes, and constantly switch directions to run away from those, but somehow end up running closer toward the source.

The hiss becomes a growl; something is about to attack.

The girls find a dirt road and Aya exclaims "here! We can follow this path and escape."

The satori nods and runs alongside the tengu, and now both girls are flying through the air, their ears start ringing, their vision blanks the second they feel their bodies touch the hard ground, and now lie on their backs for a few moments while their senses return.

"Uuuh, what happened?" asks the tengu while slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes to recover her sight.

Satori turns around to stand on her arms and knees and coughs, then looks forward and can see a blurry black spot on the ground in front of her, then says "I- I think we were shot. M-miss Aya, can you hear me yet?"

The satori feels something tapping her hard on the hip, shakes off her confusion and looks behind herself, and sees the tengu facing a twelve-feet tall white spirit with blood-red eyes.

Both girls now share a terrified look on their faces as they look at this spirit, smiling dearly at them while hissing.

Satori manages to turn her body around again and stand on her feet without taking her eyes off this new creature, then readies her third eye when she notices the tengu girl preparing the digital camera.

Aya gulps and whispers "that's the spirit that hangs around the shrine. Sh-she loves teasing Reimu. Um, Mima, I think she's called."

The evil spirit has now become something more, as even her long bushy hair has become as white as her whole exposed body, and all but her eyes glows an eerie pale green light.

Though a bit eerie, this spirit retains her skin and shapely body, making herself look appealing to the eyes, though still seems strange when one notices her knees and below are one thick ghostly tail.

She smiles dearly at the terrified girls and waves at them while echoing a giggle.

The tengu girl is already turning around to run away but her progress is abruptly halted when several extensions of Mima's ghostly tail sprout from the ground like a bed of spikes, and on some of these there are zombie fairies already impaled or trapped by coiled tail-tips, and there's even other green-glowing spirits trapped by these spikes as well.

When Aya turns around to regroup with Satori she realizes these tail-like spikes have surrounded the area, destroying any hopes of escaping the girls may have had.

The spirit giggles once more and gently lifts a hand toward the girls.

They wince and take a few steps away, the tengu raising her camera while whimpering with fright, and noticing this, the spirit twitches and retracts her hand.

She looks around herself and all her tails, smiles widely and shows her long fangs to the girls when she spots something to her right, then she leans over and grabs one of the impaled zombie fairies.

The fairy groans as she tries to break free from Mima's grasp, and fails its arms around even when the spirit squishes the exposed gut of the zombie, apparently for amusement, then she presents the bleeding fairy to the girls.

Aya gulps and thinks "_what does she want with us? Satori, what should we do?_"

The purple-haired girl looks at the tengu with both surprise and helplessness and shrugs, then whispers "t-try not to move too much. M-maybe she'll let us go."

What comes next makes the girls gasp with fright.

Mima takes the captured fairy and stretches its neck, places it closer to her mouth, then takes a large crunchy bite right off the zombie's throat, and the fairy kicks and flails furiously before finally stopping for good.

Its blood gushes out and sprays all over the spirit's face, and now said spirit smiles as she chews on her meal, ignoring the blood and bits of rotten flesh dripping down her lips.

The unlikely duo's faces turn black and green when the spirit offers them the zombie fairy in a friendly manner, and edges them to take a bite.

Both girls shake their heads to decline the _gracious_ offer made by the spirit, then Mima giggles, shrugs, and opens her mouth unnaturally wide to take another bite off the fairy, this time taking half of its whole body in one go, ignoring the hands that were bitten off in the process and bounce once on the ground.

The girls are naturally disgusted by this even though they are youkai, but at the same time they start lowering their guard when to them it seems this spirit truly means them no harm.

While the spirit finishes her questionable meal, Aya nudges Satori and thinks "_let's get out of here. Just walk past those tails and we should be fine, I hope._"

"Something's different" whispers the satori as she raises a hand to point at the glowing spirit woman.

After finishing her meal Mima licks her hands as though she were some sort of cat, and as soon as she's done cleaning the blood off her fingers she yawns and stretches her arms over her head, then lets her arms flop down.

She looks at the girls with that friendly smile, slowly frowns with sadness, then waves as them and closes her eyes, immediately falling asleep.

The tengu wants to turn around and run away at that very instant, but it's already too late.

From behind Mima's ghostly body comes the sound of hissing and growling, and a second later six Mima heads with snake bodies grow from the spirit's back, each showing a different emotion.

The angry head to the left growls at the girls while the sad and the hungry heads to the right hiss loudly, the calm head to the left just stares uncaringly toward them, and the other two heads above the rest, happy and bashful, giggle amongst themselves.

When those top heads stop their giggling and turn their attention to the girls, all six heads hiss at the same time and lunge straight at them, stretching straight from the sleeping spirit's back.

* * *

><p>Aya and Satori flash simultaneously and force the heads to split up and miss them, then the tengu growls, shivers violently, then screams out of rage.<p>

She chases after the heads on the left while screaming like a raging maniac and ignores the satori who shouts "WAIT! Don't leave me alone!"

The tengu flashes the angry and the bashful heads until they slam against a tree, then shouts "YOU WON'T TAKE ME WITHOUT A FIGHT!", then glares furiously at the calm head and its annoying neutral stare.

The purple-haired girl gets slammed on the stomach by the sad head and gets her arm bitten by the hungry head while she recovers.

Before it breaks her bones in half the satori maiden manages to flash the heads and free herself, then jumps away before the happy head rams itself on her head while giggling.

She flashes all three heads and manages to scare them far away enough for her to take a look at her arm.

Nothing. There is absolutely no damage done to her arm, not even a tear on her clothes.

Knowing the answer to this riddle the satori girl looks at the reporter as she fights with the other three heads and shouts "they're an illusion. We have to wake the main body if we want to get out of here!"

Aya is trapped by the calm head, which has coiled its snake-like body around the tengu and is constricting her to the point of breaking her body, or at least that's how it feels to the girl.

"AAARGH! It feels-AAH- REAL TO ME!" screams the tengu as the snake squeezes the life out of her.

The angry and bashful heads take the opportunity to try and take a bite out of the girl, but she manages to free her hands with her camera and flashes them, making them lose their balance and slam against each other.

Satori jumps over the laughing happy head's body and flashes the sad head away as she makes her way to the tengu, but gets smashed on the face by the hungry head, which progresses to taking a bite out of the girl's forehead.

What a horrible sensation it is to have that thin flesh on your forehead bitten off by a set of blade-sharp teeth, even if it is an illusion, a game of the mind, it still hurts.

With this knowledge in mind the satori youkai gets back on her feet and continues her way toward the tengu while recovering from the pain, but once again stops when that annoying happy head gets in the way and laughs.

She flashes the snake-like illusion with her third eye and as it roars in pain she resumes her race toward Aya, but quickly realizes she is too late.

The tengu fights hard against the bashful and angry heads while still constricted by that annoying calm head, but it's had enough of her and her constant fighting back so it squeezes her harder and makes her groan with pain.

The reporter feels as though every bone and internal organs in her have just been crushed into a mixture of dust and mush and has stopped moving due to the mental strain.

In reality she is just fine and she's even holding her camera tight, but her mind is so broken she thinks she's dying slowly.

She aims those blank eyes and that strained face at her partner and softly says "help me," and finally collapses just as the snake-like creature sets her back on the ground.

Their job with the tengu is done, and now all that's left is the satori maiden.

The purple-haired mind-reader is now facing off against six heads, but instead of being frightened the exhausted girl stares back with pure hatred at these creatures and says "so you want to play mind games with **ME**, huh? I'll show you... I'll show you why I am the most hated youkai in HELL!"

The creatures don't seem to care, especially that calm head, and lunge forward with their mouths wide open, ready to take a bite off that delicious-looking live girl in six different places.

A spell card flies in front of Satori's third eye, she closes her scowling eyes, focuses power around her chest, then opens her eyes, her chest expands a bit, and she shouts "Memory Sign, Traumatic Lifetime!"

Using her own frustrating and traumatic experiences, Satori's third eye glows with abnormally intense light while large oval light-blue bullets shoot from the concentrated energy on her hands and third eye.

All six heads roar as the light and the bullets burn their eyes and snake-like bodies, and after just three seconds of this constant punishment their roars turn to screeches, and every single one of them retract and hide behind the main body.

The satori's spell continues for ten more seconds, and after that very last second when the spell cancels, the exhausted girl rushes to the main body and shouts "WAKE UP!" then slaps the spirit on the face.

All six heads whimper and disappear into the spirits back when Mima starts to yawn and stretch her arms as she starts waking up.

Satori rushes to the tengu, drops on her knees between her and the spirit, then shouts "GET UP AYA! You are fine! Your body is just fine!"

The tengu girl moans softly and blinks her empty eyes twice, recovering the light in them, then slowly moves her head around and asks "are you hitting on me?"

Mima giggles again, getting the satori's attention, then waves at her.

The mind-reader glares back at the spirit and shouts "we're both alive and well! We didn't fall for your traps. Now go away!"

The spirit frowns as she looks at the girls, notices that they are just sitting on the ground, and then sniffles.

Her tails sink back down underground along with all her prey, then Mima sniffles, sobs out loud, and in a quick and sudden turn she takes flight toward Marisa's house, creating a whooshing gust of wind that follows after her departure that remains for a bit.

The tengu looks around in a daze and holds her tokin on her head so it doesn't fly away, and after the wind dies out she says "so that's the thing that was outside Marisa's house."

Satori remains sitting in place and doesn't reply, so the tengu angrily says "hey, you're supposed to say something now."

The mind-reader stares at Aya with a drained face and whispers "you're safe," and falls to her left, where her head bounces off the ground twice.

The tengu girl worriedly calls "S-Satori? Satori, wake up!" and when she touches the girl's shoulder to nudge her, she realizes the purple-haired girl is literally drained of all energy.

Aya gasps with surprise and scrambles on her feet to pick up the girl, and then quickly notices the moaning and roaring zombies are getting closer to the area.

"Oh shit! Oh-no-no! Guh, I'm going to have to rush it!"

She grabs her partner and carries her like a princess; a seemingly dead princess; places her camera in front of the satori's body, then runs down the road as fast as her feet will allow her.

* * *

><p>She breathes heavily through her mouth as she runs with what's left of her strength and with the satori on her hands.<p>

Around her she can hear the bushes rustle, twigs snap, and the moans and hisses from the nearby zombies as they chase after their prey.

Aya raises her camera, along with Satori's head, aims it to the left and takes a picture just as a zombie youkai rabbit jumps out of a bush, and knocks it out with ease.

She aims the camera forward and snaps another photo, and the powerful flash takes out three zombie fairies that were scrambling toward them.

She exclaims "get the hell out of my way you smelly moving turds!", then aims her camera to the left again and snaps the photo of a large zombie youkai bear that's missing the right half of its face and the skin of its back.

It roars with a gurgle as it rubs its face with its bloodied paws, then gets on all fours to chase after the girls, though doing so makes its left eye pop out of the socket and roll away.

The tengu girl manages to jump high enough to turn around and shout "no time for you! DIE AGAIN SMOKEY!", then takes the photo and turns around once again, grinning after hearing the large creature crash on the ground.

"WE MADE IT!" exclaims the girl when they reach the clearing where Alice's white house with the blue roof is.

Aya smiles when she lays eyes on the house, but screeches with pain and falls to the ground.

Because of her momentum, she and Satori roll several times before stopping on their stomachs, then the tengu clenches her teeth and breathes hard through them.

She grabs her left leg and squeezes her thigh to suppress the pain coming from the horrendously large gash on her calf.

She looks toward the trees behind her and sees one of those youkai rabbits with blade for ears, and a new kind of horrible creature.

This one looks like a mixture of a rabbit-sized youkai boar with two madly barking heads that ooze black drool, has thin cat-like bodies so decayed its skin is literally hanging on by a thread of some sort of mucus, and its legs are thin, though has one large claw growing on each one of the front paws.

This creature's left paw is covered in fresh blood, so now the tengu knows where to aim her camera at and temporary kill with extreme prejudice.

She ignores the pain and grabs her camera, but the moment she aims it both monsters hop away at ridiculous speeds and use the trees and their branches to bounce around like a pair of acrobats.

The girl whimpers when she misses all the shots she takes, then out of frustration she shouts "stop moving around so damned much!", and hops back on to her feet, unaware that her calf is perfectly healed already.

She moves around and bends her body to avoid the monsters' attacks while trying to flash them, but they always seem to move just as she takes the picture.

Furious, Aya takes her fan and shouts "you bitchy hoppers can bite my tail-feathers!", then makes a powerful tornado in front of herself, traps both monsters in it, and takes four pictures, even though both monsters yelped after the second shot.

The tornado dies down, both monsters drop dead on the ground, then the tengu smiles quite viciously and says "you don't mess with the tengu!"

She chokes, her body convulses, then she gags and drops her fan and camera.

The clawed creature faked its death to trick the girl and has jumped on Aya, stuck it's left claw into her right breast, and before she can recover it opens its mouth to take a bite.

The girl recovers in time to punch the creature between the faces and knocks it out of herself, winces from the pain and kneels, takes her camera from the ground, then takes six more pictures of the monster, making sure it yelps its last before stopping.

She sobs as she holds her breast and winces when she moves her hands away.

The girl breathes a few times through her mouth as she summons strength to herself, takes her fan from the ground and places it behind her back under her belt, then grabs Satori again, lifts her over her left shoulder, and walks slowly toward Alice's house.

The girl kicks the door open and staggers inside, reaches the living room's elegant sofa and drops the satori on it, then turns around and removes her own backpack.

Her vision blurs as she rummages inside the pack and takes out one of the wards Reimu gave her.

She stands up, her wound is healed, yet she's still strained and exhausted, and she can feel it as she staggers back to the front door to close it, then places the ward on the wall, ignoring the burning shock it gives her when it activates.

She breathes through her mouth, drops on her knees, then allows herself to fall face-down on the floor, then drifts out of consciousness as soon as her exhausted body touches the floor.

Outside the house the sun rises once more, but those unnatural clouds prevents its light from shining through, and although it is now supposed to be daytime, it's so dark and gloomy that it might as well just stay as night.

* * *

><p>Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-<p>

Satori's "Memory Sign, Traumatic Lifetime" was derived from "Memory Sign, Brain Fingerprint".

Reimu's "Yin-Yang Desecration Orb"was derived from "Holy Relic, Yin-Yang Sanctifying Orb" and "Gods Binding Circle" was derived from "Divine Arts, Demon Binding Circle".

JUN 29 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**I feel I made this chapter darker than the first one, and that's good. I mean, I do love comedy, and do like adding some funny moments here and there, but this fiction is of dark nature. Well... zombies and all that. Eh, whatever, I'll start working on other fics now and come back to this one soon. Being honest here I am enjoying THIS fic a little more than the Sukima series. Maybe I just needed a break from them? *Shrugs* Oh, and thanks for reading all the way down here. Kirisame appreciates it.**


	3. Bamboo Hares

_Day OO/XO, workshop tower, Alice's house,_

_It's Aya again, and somehow, by some miracle, I live. The things we went through, Satori and me. We... weren't ready for this. I thought this was just another incident to be solved by flying around and... Oh that's right, Reimu is alive, and she sealed our ability to fly, as well as my wings! All I can do now is summon a feather to myself, but what good's a feather for flying? I need wings! Well, I don't usually need them for flying, seeing as I have powers over wind and all that, but this BLASTED SEAL makes it so I can only hover for three seconds, even if I make a tornado. Same with Satori! Oh, that's right. Reimu, well her zombie, placed these seals on our chests, and I think she was also groping us, but regardless, she kicked our butts, then when we wake up at night after the beating and find ourselves surrounded by all kinds of rotting monsters, and... and Rinnosuke, he was amongst them. He...Aafter I took care of him, me and Satori escaped, b-but he is ok. Turns out these... things can't die. Did I mention that when I talked about Reimu? I mean, I already killed her, but it turns out after a few days these zombies just come back to life. I'm not kidding! I literally buried her under this huge pillar, and then four days later she and all the other zombies came back to life! Oh, and then Genjii attacked us. He was HUGE._

_Ah crap, I got off track there. Anyway, after escaping Kourindou we headed into the forest and these horrible spirits that kept on crying very loudly went in after us and messed with our minds. It made me want to kill Satori out of hatred, and I'm not sure, but my partner must have seen something very scary. She was crying and everything. I somehow managed to fight that urge to kill the poor girl and flash those spirits with my trusty old camera. After that, well I'm not sure. They just disappeared! After escaping those things we came across Marisa in her messy house, but this meeting was weird. First off, she's a hideous zombie, but she's still normal. Er, that is, she didn't try to eat us. Well, it turns out, from what my partner Satori said, it's that witch's fault all of this happened. I'll get on that later. After I forced that girl to look into a mirror that just happened to be there, she totally freaked out. I mean complete mental meltdown! She started screaming, and her stuff was flying all around trying to kill us. It was scary, for real. We managed to escape that and came across Mima, who became even MORE of a spirit somehow, but she was all friendly and all that, and then she ate a zombie fairy in front of our faces. I swear, I was about to hurl for a second time after seeing that. Well, she fell asleep and six more heads of herself started hurting us, but they were not hurting us, but it felt real when in reality it wasn't and, and... I'm very confused about all that. Well whatever. We survived that and reached Alice's house, but Satori was totally drained, I was weak, we were attacked, I almost got killed, and after that everything is a bit fuzzy. I remember placing the ward on the wall next to the door and waking up on the floor afterward, but um, I can't recall. Did I manage to check the house before going to sleep?_

_Well, whatever. We decided to stay here for a few days to recover and gather our minds, or what's left of them. Seeing as the food here is very tasty, and none of it is rotten, it's all good for us. There are even two comfy beds! Oh, right, the reason we are still here after six days is because we've been training ourselves. Seriously, we weren't ready for ANY of this, so yeah; we've been training very, very hard, preparing for what may be out there. We've been using our blood to lure those monsters here and we've been fighting them hard and flashing them good, and we're getting better at it too. Ah, that's right. Whenever we bleed these things come after us like **Suika to sake**. Well, even with this training I'm still sick of those things, but now I feel I can actually face them without freaking out. Yeah, I'm ready for this! Oh, and about Marisa. Turns out she tricked the purple librarian girl and one of the kappa, a very good friend of Momiji's to boot, into making her an immortality potion under the guise of making this rain that would make fruits and vegetables and nature all awesome and good. What a selfish brat. Well, thanks to her all Gensokyo is filled with immortal brain-dead zombies that want to kill us. Also, Satori saw that nice monk magician, the green-haired maiden from my mountain, and Alice in that library as well, and Reimu was there too, but that's kinda obvious to me. She's always everywhere there's an incident. So yeah, our goal remains the SDM, but at least we know what's this **cauldron** thing is all about, and now I understand why Reimu wanted me to spill it._

"Aya~ Lunch's ready~" sweetly calls Satori from the kitchen below.

_One last thing before I go. I'm kinda afraid, and I've been doing my best to hide it from Satori, but I've been bitten and clawed already. I'm not sure if she has noticed me trying to patch my clothes as best I can, but she hasn't said anything about it, so maybe she doesn't know. Reimu said if we got bitten or scratched we would turn into those zombie things, but I haven't so far. I feel just fine. Well, all I can do now is wait and see, and if I start feeling different in any way I'll get away from Satori to spare her. Um, anyway, it's starting to smell good so I'll go eat now!_

The tengu stops typing on the typewriter, smiles and drools when that amazing smell of fish and vegetables reaches her nostrils, and jumping off her seat she exclaims "yeah~ Lunch time! Be right there Satori-sam-"

She freezes in place and stops speaking, her face turns all red, her smile remains frozen, and her shoulders twitch twice.

From the kitchen below the mind-reader asks "what was that? Miss Aya, is everything alright?"

The tengu girl sighs with relief, wipes the sweat off her forehead, then says "PHEWWWW! She didn't hear that. Jeez, why did I almost say something so embarrassing? She's just my-**meep!**"

The thought of the satori reading her mind crosses her, those red cheeks return, and now she feels so embarrassed a cluster of feathers burst right out of her back.

At the kitchen; wearing a cute lime-green apron over her dress and a pink flowers bandana on her head; Satori smiles as she sets the table and says to herself "u-fu-fu. She's starting to get used to me."

She closes her eyes; her mind drifts to her pets and her sister, then thinks "_she keeps reminding me of them. Okuu, Orin... Koishi..._" and though she smiles, a tear escapes her right eye, and a sob accompanies a sudden convulsion.

She sits on her chair, covers her eyes, and lets herself cry away, thinking she's still alone in the room, unaware her tengu partner is on the other side of the door, looking on with pity and feeling a little helpless.

* * *

><p>It's the dawn of the seventh day and the girls are at the living room, preparing their backpacks for the journey ahead.<p>

Once ready the girls head to the door, but before they cross through that doorway they both take a long hard look at the house.

"Those soft beds," sighs Satori.

"That spacious bathroom," adds Aya, and after a quick simultaneous sigh from both girls, they turn around and walk out of the safety of Alice's house.

The second they close the door the satori maiden points toward one of the several piles of unmoving zombie corpses and says "ah, those rabbits are just about to revive."

The tengu smiles and casually asks "would you like to do the honors, or should I?"

The purple haired girl smirks and raises her third eye, the black haired tengu raises her camera, and three blade-eared rabbit zombies fly straight out of one of the piles in front and lunge straight at the girls, bearing their blood-dripping teeth at them.

Though seemingly tense the girls' movements are relaxed, and with a quick flash from each the zombies roar and drop on the ground with heavy thuds.

The girls sigh, smile at each other, then turn around to follow a narrow path through the dirt road that should lead them straight to the Human Village.

"So how are you charging that camera of yours?" casually asks the satori girl.

The tengu chuckles and asks "why don't you just read my thoughts?

There is a moment of silence while Satori concentrates, then she opens her eyes with a surprised look on her and asks "you are concealing your thoughts? H-how?"

Aya grins, giggles, then lightly flicks her partner's forehead and says "unlike other crows I can learn, and being around you has taught me quite a lot of things."

They enter through what looks like a giant cave made of towering trees that seem to lean toward them as the impressed satori asks "so you won't tell me how you did it then?"

The tengu looks up at the treetops that seem to have frowning faces, ignores their incessant stares, then says "actually I'm not really sure. I just sleep and in the morning it's fully charged."

"Really? Just like that?" asks Satori in disbelief, then adds "well, I'm glad you're getting used to me, but... I have to admit, I feel a little strange not being able to read your thoughts."

"W-well I feel rather comfortable knowing I'm actually able to keep you out of my head," bluntly reveals the tengu girl in a rather unfriendly tone.

Though chuckling, this feeling of rejection hits the satori's heart in a painful manner, but she is used to this kind of treatment, and so she ignores the feeling and moves on, keeping her thoughts to herself.

The forest starts getting darker the deeper they move in, and the girls, even after training themselves so hard, can't help but feel frightened and uneasy.

They get closer to each other when further through the path they start seeing an odd white film clinging on to the trees, and the further they walk the more of this film they see, so much that it's wrapped around 3 or five trees at once.

"Wh-what is all this?" nervously whispers the tengu as she gets even closer to her partner.

"I don't know. Let's just get out of here as fast as we can," anxiously whispers the satori youkai.

The girls quicken their pace and soon notice how their footsteps echo all around them.

Aya takes one more step and freezes in place, holding Satori from moving further and shushing her before she asks why they stopped.

The last step's echo seems to have rebounded from something in front of them, however they see absolutely nothing, save for that white film that now surrounds them from all around the trees.

The tengu leans closer to the satori's ear and softly whispers "there's something in front of us."

Now both girls are aware that everything seems to be too quiet. In fact, they haven't seen a single zombie all this time.

The satori girl looks around the area and whispers "what should we do?"

Shameimaru's face stiffens with resolve as she raises her camera, to which dear Komeiji gulps, slightly raises her third eye, and nods.

The girls remain as silent as they can and flash the entire area in front of them twice, and to their surprise many figures of zombie fairies stuck on that white film on the trees slowly become visible to them.

Some are alive and grunting while trying to free themselves from the sticky whiteness, while others have apparently been killed by the powerful flash from the girls just now.

More and more of that white substance slowly materializes before their eyes and reveals to them the webbed trap that awaited them only ten feet away.

The tengu reporter gulps and whispers "w-well this is new."

The satori girl gasps, then whispers "wh-what's that in front, Miss Aya?"

Two steps in front of them a disgusting-looking shaggy creature with a glowering face, and on what should only be its large, round head is a drooling furry fetus-like creature with small tentacle-arms that flail all around its front, slowly becomes visible to them.

The main creature seems to be sleeping at the moment, it's large round eyes are shut looking like scowls, the point where the two lids meet is red and swollen and seem to be sealed with a crusty substance, and it's naked body looks like moist flesh with a very thin layer of skin, letting its veins and shaggy muscles bare to the naked eye.

The disgusted and freaked out girls take slow and quiet steps away from this monster, and when several feet away they let go of their held breaths and Satori whispers "wh-what the hell is that thing?"

Before the tengu answers, they both take notice they have been walking near these creatures for a while back. A total of eight of these monsters are currently visible to them, and some differ in slight ways, particularly those fetuses, seeing as some are bald, and other are actually merged zombie fairies.

Aya shivers, gulps her heart back down her chest, then whispers "w-we need to go back while we still can."

* * *

><p>A loud and disturbing thud coming from the front makes the duo flinch and yelp, and the monster in front hisses along with the high-pitched roar of the fetus, but remains sleeping.<p>

The black-haired tengu looks to her partner and thinks "_what was that? Satori, what. was. **THAT**_**?**"

Satori keeps her face stiffly forward and raises a violently shaking hand pointing at the front, beyond the disgusting shaggy monster.

Grunting as she gets up from the floor is the figure of the blonde girl with a brown dress that bulges at the legs, Yamame Kurodani.

Her face contorts with pain as she tries to get up, and when she looks at the duo they immediately realize the spider youkai is more than just ill.

Her eyes are bloody-red, her teeth have become too large to keep inside the mouth and one of her fangs has pierced through the upper lip.

Something around her legs pulsates like a heart, sounds of bones cracking within her fill the immediate area, and the poor girl desperately screams "SATORIIIII! HELP MEEEEE!"

Her voice comes out mixed with a disturbing roar as the skin around her face turns pale and something long, hairy and sharp grows out the back of her legs.

"Yamame!" exclaims the satori after a quick gasp, then she runs to the girl while shouting "hang on! Yamame, what's wrong?"

Aya jumps over the creature and over Satori to stop her advance, and the satori tries to push herself through while calling "I know her! Yamame! Aya, I know her! Let me through!"

The tengu slaps the satori with the back of her hand, raises her camera, and though she tries to sound stern the pain in her eyes is evident as she says "there's nothing you can do. It's obvious she's turning. Get ready."

The girls can only watch as the youkai screams in pain, flinch as how her voice comes with a distorted roar, but what hits the girls hardest is when the spider youkai reaches for them as she cries and calls "pleeaase help... It hurts! PLEASE **KILL ME!**"

The girl's screams become chocking gasps as her body convulses violently, her bones crack loudly when her torso bends backward, six twisted and hairy spider legs dripping with fresh blood grow from the bulgy part of her dress, which slowly breaks away as her legs become a rotten black abdomen, and out of the pain she feels she rips out the right half of the hair on her head along with some of her skin and roars.

The spider youkai has now become a full-fledge monster right before the girls' eyes, and now she smiles viciously as she slurps her newly-grown long and sharp snake-like tongue at the girls and jumps up her web, becoming invisible as soon as she touches those sticky threads.

Aya stares in disbelief and chuckles nervously after witnessing such an event, and with a disturbing smile on her face she says "ha-ha! Sh-she just disappeared."

"Shh! Up there," the teary Satori says while pointing her shaky hand toward an odd transparent swiveling silhouette hanging from the treetops, and although they can both see it, the tengu is having a hard time keeping up with its movements.

The tengu reporter twitches when Yamame's silhouette moves rapidly toward them to just turn back again and hiss, dripping, from what she hopes is the mouth, a sticky yellow ooze that wriggles around after touching the ground, as though having a life of its own.

"Flash her. It might reveal her just like the other creatures," commands the tengu, whom takes her camera and immediately flashes toward the silhouette once, and then the purple-haired girl reluctantly follows with her own flash, and the spider screeches.

The monster spider falls on her back on the ground with a loud boom the girls believe will wake those disgusting creatures around them, but they remain sleeping and hissing at nothing in particular.

Patches of the skin on Yamame's abdomen peel off, and a vile-smelling purple liquid drains non-stop from it.

The satori covers her mouth with her shirt and exclaims "careful with that poison. That girl used to spread diseases around like it was a mere game. We might get ill if we touch it."

The tengu girl nods, covers her nose and mouth with her shirt, and quickly moves to the left in hopes of flashing the spider straight on the face.

The mind-reader yelps and jumps to the right as a web string shoots out the back of the monster's abdomen, and although she and her tengu friend are safe from the attack, the creature in the middle of the road isn't as lucky, and is sent flying against the wall of trees to the left.

Satori looks terrified toward the creature, thinking it will wake up and alert the others, but it just hisses while it's disgusting fetus yawns, and resumes sleeping as though nothing happened at all, to which the satori sighs with great relief.

Aya reaches Yamame's front and smiles, aims her camera, then jumps left to avoid a purplish-yellow blob aimed at her face and says "what an ill-mannered crawler you are, spitting like that. I'll have to punish you for that."

She takes the photo and the spider zombie screeches.

It manages to get on its six legs again and quickly moves toward the tengu, who takes yet another photo to escape, but the spider, even though screeching in pain and covering its eyes, manages to bend its abdomen forward and shoot a single string straight at the tengu's face.

The girl's screams are muffled, and she moves around in a circle while trying to remove the sticky substance with one hand while flashing aimlessly with her camera on the other.

Yamame has manages to jump up and climb back up to her thread, and quickly hangs down from above the tengu where the flashes can't reach her, drools with anticipation as she reaches for the girl, but all she gets is a hot orb of red that pushes her back, quickly followed by Satori's third-eye flash.

The spider hisses and screeches, flails her legs and arms around in an attempt to get back up, then stops moving and falls limp, quieting down as she expires her last breath.

The tengu has managed to free her right eye and her mouth in time to witness the spider's demise, and in a surprised tone of voice says "that was a little easier than I expected."

The satori girl gently removes the rest of the sticky silk from Aya's face and sadly says "yeah... easy," then both girls look up when they hear muffled screaming coming from a cocoon above their heads.

They frown after looking up, then Satori says "I agree Miss Aya; from a safe distance."

The girls take five steps away from the cocoon, each ready a red bullet, then send those bullets at the same time toward the wriggling concentration of web silk.

They can hear as the one inside exclaims its displeasure after falling to the ground while trapped in that prison, then they can hear as the trapped girl cries "Yamame, this isn't funny! Get me out!"

"**She's alive!**" exclaim the girls simultaneously after hearing the complaints, and without waiting another moment they sink their fingers in the middle of the cocoon and pull away from each other, breaking it in half.

The girl from inside jumps right out of her prison and shouts "that was a really nasty prank! I suffocated in there three times! Do you realize how bad is dying from asphyxiation, you rotten... wha-?"

The girl is the karakasa youkai, Kogasa Tatara, wearing her light-blue dress that matches her short turquoise hair, has a right turquoise eye, a left red eye, and always carries around that eggplant-purple umbrella with one eye and one giant tongue hanging from its mouth.

The girl looks around with surprise on her face until she spots her saviors, but before she says anything she notices Yamame's mutated body lying on the floor and gasps loudly.

"Ya... Yamame-san?" whispers the karakasa while taking quick steps toward the spider, and before Aya or Satori can stop her she runs to her friend and slides on her knees to take a better look.

She quickly sobs and cries "no! Wake up! Yamame-san, you promised you would be fine!"

She shoves the spider's shoulder in hopes of getting a response, but gets none.

Despair and overwhelming sadness takes the youkai and disregarding the stench of death coming from her former partner's body she leans over her back and cries "now I'm all alone! It's not fair Yamame-san! Wake up... **WAKE UP!**"

She yelps when she feels a hand grasping each shoulders hard, then cries "I don't care anymore, just kill me already you stupid zombies!"

Surprise fills the karakasa's face when Aya says "killing you would be a pretty stupid move on our part."

She looks to her right while from her left Satori softly says "yes that's right, we are not zombies. You are not alone."

The karakasa youkai turns her head left and right several times to make sure she isn't dreaming, and before either the satori or tengu know what comes next, they find themselves held in a group hug by one crying and desperate youkai.

* * *

><p>"So, she and Yamame have been wandering about since seven days ago," says the satori maiden while Aya comforts the karakasa youkai with a forced hug from the youkai.<p>

She's not really doing it because she wants to, but seeing as she feels the need to expand their group this forces the tengu to be far nicer than she wants to be at the time.

Kogasa rubs her face against the reporter's belly to clean her off tears, then looks to her right at Satori and nods.

The satori youkai nods back and continues "I see. You two promised to take care of each other, but got separated for a few hours after Reimu attacked. After you escaped, you found Yamame had her calves bitten by that zombie girl."

The tengu reporter twitches after hearing the word _bitten_ but manages to keep both mouth and mind quiet about it, while the satori maiden continues "after that, even though she healed normally, she got sick. I see. Now I understand why she cocooned you."

The karakasa pushes herself away from the tengu and asks "a-and why is that, lady mind-reader?"

"Call me Satori please," calmly says the mind-reader, then in a soft voice continues "Yamame was uncommonly kind for one such as her. She must have felt what was happening inside her and wanted to protect you."

Kogasa sobs loudly and cries "bu-bu-but she said *sniffle* she said she was fine! She-she promised!"

And again, the karakasa youkai starts to cry out loud while bawling "I couldn't protect her like I promised! I'm so sooorrryyyyy!"

Aya covers her ears and shouts "great, now she's back to bawling like a human child!"

Satori tries to prevent herself from covering her ears but ends up doing it automatically and shouts "we have to calm her down and get out of here! We're wasting time!"

"Let's just leave her here!" shouts the tengu, to which the satori shakes her head in disagreement and starts arguing with her partner about whether or not to abandon the crying youkai.

As the girls bicker away and the karakasa cries, they remain unaware of the predicament they are in.

The creatures with the fetus-heads have woken up, and as they stretch their arms and legs the disgusting fetuses and zombie fairies on their heads yawn and twists their tentacle limbs as they fall into a deep sleep.

The monster's eyes are large, round, and transparent orbs that fill with blood to reveal a vampiric iris within them that quickly lock on the girls.

They open their mouths and reveal a set of massive yellow fangs with a few small but sharp bloodied teeth on rotting gums, and all hiss silently, as though communicating amongst themselves.

By now, even the creature trapped by Yamame's web is fully awake and easily frees itself from the sticky silk, hisses quietly, apparently giving a command, and it and its friends close their eyes again to pretend to be sleeping while taking baby steps toward the trio.

"FINE! I'm SORRY!" shouts Aya, apparently giving up on the argument.

Satori sighs with relief and says "we are all pretty edgy Miss Aya, so please consider others' feelings as well. And besides," she gestures toward the sniffling karakasa girl with her hand and casually says "she stopped crying."

"I'm sorry," says Kogasa after rubbing her eyes to look at the girls while speaking through a cracked voice "It's just that, we've been through so much. We thought everything would just stop like it always does, that Reimu would resolve this incident again."

Both satori and tengu twitch at the mentioning of _Reimu_ and the word _incident_, as they two thought like Kogasa, and now sympathize with her.

The karakasa sniffles again, rubs her eyes one more time, then smiles and says "but I guess we were wrong. Those clouds, they are evil. Before that maiden sealed our flight power-"

"She sealed you too?" asks the tengu with surprise.

Kogasa nods and says "then she mentioned something about a game and then left me alive after attacking Yamame. Oh, and those clouds-"

"Shh! Girls," whispers the satori youkai interrupting the conversation, and after the karakasa and tengu turn their attention to her they see how she glances around and how tenses she looks while doing so.

The black haired tengu gulps and bravely raises her camera, the purple haired satori calmly lifts her third eye, and the turquoise haired karakasa lifts her umbrella and slightly opens it.

"You know you can't defeat these zombies with danmaku, right?" whispers the tengu reporter.

"Hey, how do you think I was protecting Yamame all this time?" whispers the karakasa ghost.

"When we flash, we move right. The path forward is now blocked," whispers the satori maiden, to which the other girls nod and prepare themselves.

All around them, the seemingly sleeping creatures have created a parameter, and the one with the only furry fetus is standing in the very same spot the girls had found it before Yamame trapped it on the wall.

The girls glance at each other, nod with stern looks, then the creatures snarl and roar as they all make their jump toward the trio, revealing a set of three large blood-red claws on each raised hand, and at the very same time, "**BOO!**" shouts Kogasa when all three girls flash the creatures and run to the right with all their youkai strength.

The disgusting monsters are only stunned for a mere second before they screech and roar, spitting out coagulated balls of blood from their mouths before running after their prey.

* * *

><p>"<strong>BE SCARED<strong>," shouts the karakasa after a quick flask from her umbrella.

Satori turns around while running to flash the faces of those monsters that have gotten too close too fast, while Aya turns her arm around with her camera on-hand and takes a blind shot.

They screech and slow down after the tengu's flash, then "**BOGGEDY-BOGGEDY-BOO!**" shouts Kogasa as she opens her umbrella slightly, flashes the monsters and makes them trip on their own feet.

"They recover almost instantly," shouts the satori when the creatures snarl near her neck after catching up rather quickly.

"**I hate you!**" shouts the karakasa while swinging her umbrella with its eye upward and flashing the monsters again, making one of them whine and fall to the ground.

"We need to find somewhere to hide," shouts the tengu before turning to Kogasa and shouting "and you! Stop shouting like a freak! It's not funny!"

The youkai girl closes her left eye and sticks out her tongue with a smile and says "sorry. It just helps me-WAAHHH!"

The floor below the girls explodes violently, sending them flying forward several feet, while the monsters are all sent flying backward.

Their leader roars so loudly the very air seems to vibrate, and as the girls stand up to fight them off they quickly learn the monsters have all spread around and hidden behind the cluster of bamboo shoots all around.

"Oh shit," exclaims Aya as she looks around, then says "we're in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost."

Instead of trees and bushes, the girls now find themselves surrounded by unnaturally tall yellow and purple bamboo shoots that have moving thorns growing on them from bottom to top.

"Um, lady tengu, ma'am; I think we have another problem," says the karakasa while pointing forward.

The satori maiden is already raising her third-eye and looking frightened but steeled at the threat in front and says "this one has unusual thought patterns; keeps repeating '_your fault_' over and over."

The tengu looks forward and scowls at the sight of a zombie Alice Margatroid blocking their path.

What a mess this magician puppeteer is.

Her face and her torso have rotting skin exposed, covered only by a blood-stained pink lace around her neck, which slightly covers her lower extremity, her left eye is a white orb, her right eye is blackish-red, and her hair is obviously a wig made from three of her doll's hairs.

Her limbs have almost no skin at all, exposing her stained bones with tiny bits of flesh clinging on to them to the naked eye, and she has seen to it to have those limbs adorned.

On her right bony arm hang three decapitated Shanghai Dolls tied by their left legs with black strings, and their little dresses have been torn, and smeared with some unexplainable greenish substance.

On her left decayed arm hang the bodies of two limbless Hourai Dolls with a stringed hooks going into their mouths and out the back of their heads.

Her thin skeletal legs have been adorned with what look like the organs of some unlucky zombies, tied tightly around those smelly slimy bones like some tasteless fleshy trophies, however it is impossible to decipher what is what just by looking at those rotting adornments, seeing as they look like they've been chewed on, squished with rocks, and cleaned with iron bristles.

She looks straight at the girls and raises both arms palm-up to chest height and shrieks to the air, then the satori maiden nervously says "I don't think she likes us!"

"Well I don't like her either," quickly adds the karakasa ghost.

Aya raises her camera and says "Satori, don't forget. We promised each other we wouldn't hesitate again."

The girl nods at the tengu and both take slow steps away from each other, leaving Kogasa between them in a defensive stance, then the satori says "little umbrella, don't panic, and don't let her get close."

The tengu stops moving and raises her camera to the zombie puppeteer's eye-height and says "flash her as fast as you can and move! Whatever you do, do NOT let her scratch or bite you."

The turquoise haired girl nods while shivering on the spot, but opens her umbrella and raises it enough for her to protect herself and still see the zombie above its impermeable fabric, then whimpers "I-I'll do my best."

The zombie magician moves her arms around herself rather violently and reveals several headless dolls flying about her with old discarded nails from other zombies as their weapons, held by strings so stained with blood they are visible, even to the crow tengu.

She smiles at the living beings in front of her, revealing her small stained teeth, and shrieks a second time, this time straight at the girls, and sends a single headless doll straight at the karakasa.

* * *

><p>The turquoise girl screams with fright, but doesn't hesitate to flash the zombie puppeteer.<p>

The headless doll absorbs half of the light into itself and grows a head made entirely of light, then continues flying straight toward the umbrella girl and takes a dive right in front of the raised egg-plant parasol.

It explodes with great force and sends the girl screaming backward eight feet, and while staring awestruck Aya says "tck! As expected from this girl. She's full of unexpected surprises in that rotting brain of hers."

Satori yelps after dodging a claw to the neck from a headless doll, then says "we can't shoot her when she throws those dolls. We'll need to get closer to her if we want to walk out of here alive!"

"ARE YOU NUTS?" exclaims the understandably upset tengu.

The satori maiden makes her move, runs faster than her feet would normally allow, gets closer to zombie Alice, dodges two slow dolls from the left and right, then flashes the rotting girl straight in the face.

The doll closest to the now-retreating satori absorbs some of the light, but as soon as it does it plunges down and explodes next to the zombie girl, sending her flying left to smash against the unnatural bamboo walls.

The reporter grins after witnessing the simplicity of defeating that zombie, then flips her thumb up to the satori and says "knock her around until she can't stand. I love that."

Still smiling, the tengu rushes forward, now accompanied by the furious karakasa, and before the zombie can stand they flash again and make three more dolls fill with light and fall to the ground.

Alice roars and shrieks when flung in the air yet again, but this time she throws a doll, wraps its string around Aya's knee and pulls hard, forcing the tengu to fall on the ground head-first.

"Aya-san!" cries Kogasa, while the zombie pulls on her string to force her own fall toward the girls from the bamboo.

Noticing this the karakasa grabs and lifts the reporter, surprising the black haired girl with her strength, and runs to the back of where the puppeteer will land, surrounding Alice, with Satori already in an attack position in front of the zombie.

"Time to finish-ARGH!"

The purple-haired girl had the chance of finishing the zombie puppeteer, but that zombie somehow tangled the girl's neck with some string and pulled her close to take a vicious bite off her neck.

"**SATORIIII**" cry out the tengu and karakasa when they see the girl's blood gushing out and staining both her dress and the zombie's hair and face.

Before the girls can react a flash escapes the satori youkai and zombie Alice screeches as she covers her eyes and stumbles backward.

As though time has slowed down for the tengu she watches as her companion falls flat on the ground with her eyes wide open from the shock and her neck stained with all that blood.

"_Godsdammit, this can't be,_" thinks Aya as she runs to her friend "_we trained so hard, we looked after each other from the start, all so she could die like this? That's not fair! I refuse to believe this!_"

Both tengu and karakasa drop on their knees beside the satori youkai and whimper as they breathe through their mouths.

"S-Satori! Wake up!" calls the reporter with a cracking voice.

"Not again! Someone dies again!" cries the karakasa ghost while trying to hide her head inside her own umbrella.

"Why you little-" grumbles Aya while reaching for Kogasa's neck, but she's stopped by Satori's grip.

The girl gasp with surprise and feels her heart beat with overwhelming happiness when her partner moans while getting up, and the only words she can say at the moment are "Satori... thank goodness!"

The karakasa pops her head out from under her umbrella and exclaims "thank the spirits, she's not a zombie! But... how?"

The purple-haired girl sits up with some help from the tengu and says "I-I'm ok. She didn't bite," then shows the girls her blood-stained left hand where she holds a kunai.

"Then what," tries to ask the tengu, but she stops herself to move her head toward the zombie girl and watches as she hisses while biting the air around her, apparently to test her blood-stained mouth.

The girls can see the vicious gash on the roof of the monster's mouth and how actual fresh blood flows from it and trickles down the puppeteer's lips.

Alice leaves her mouth open, suggesting she's uncomfortable closing it at the moment, then shrieks at the girls so loud she creates a shockwave.

"She wants to kill! Get ready," exclaims the satori maiden while springing up on her feet.

The tengu and karakasa quickly follow the example and ready themselves to attack, then the zombie girl screams, calls the rest of her dolls back into hiding, then hisses furiously before running left and escaping through a narrow opening between the thorny bamboo shoots.

The trio glance each other as though looking for an answer to this riddle, then the satori maiden gasps and furiously exclaims "you WHAT?"

In her excitement, Aya loses control of her thoughts and lets the mind-reader see her getting scratched by that dual-headed monster.

"You were scratched," she shouts as she points her finger at the tengu "you were bitten," the satori shouts wile poking the surprised and frightened reporter "and you HID that from me? What the hell were you thinking? So irresponsible! What if you had turned inside the house? What if you suddenly turn on us and kill us all? You irresponsible reporter you!"

The tengu gets angry after getting accused like that, strikes her partner's hand away and furiously shouts "hey, don't go yelling your head off at ME!"

"Aya, this is not a game," barks the satori "this is real! We are all in very real danger! We can't be thinking of ourselves like before!"

"Oh, so worrying my head off for you all this time doesn't **count** does it?" asks the furious reporter as she aims her furious eyes at her partner "oh, and who do you THINK carried your ass into that house while you were unconscious, huh? Oh, but **NOOOO**, I've been thinking of myself all this time, right?"

"Don't bring up that crap just to justify yourself," furiously replies the satori while angrily gesturing her hands around "besides, you ONLY did it because you were afraid of being alone! You **hate** me anyway! You're only with me because you don't want to be lonely!"

As the girls argue Kogasa glances back to the forest of magic and yelps, then waves her arms and umbrella around while calling "hello~! Girls, no time, it's- We have to-"

"Well fine, go back to hell for all I care!" shouts Aya

"I would **gladly** leave if I could! I hate dealing with you surface dwellers anyway!" shouts Satori.

"**GUYYYYYYS~!**" interrupts the turquoise girl.

"**WHAT!**" yell the quarrelers.

"They're back! And it's got wings," cries the girl while pointing toward the regrouped monsters with the fetus heads and their bat-winged leader.

* * *

><p>As they run through the Bamboo Forest the girls come across green bamboo shoots with spread tentacle traps on the ground, however they are far too concerned of the surprisingly larger number of fetus-headed monsters chasing after them.<p>

"JUMP," shouts Aya before they get too close to those tentacles, and to their luck, not only the several tentacle traps are separated from each other, when they jump over the long thin vines they aren't sensed by the living bamboo shoots.

The creatures aren't as smart at the girls, and the first five in line are caught by the tentacles, and in a matter of a second several other vines grab the creatures' limbs, necks and torsos and rip them apart, then immediately sink those tendrils like rooks on the ground and start absorbing the blood of their monstrous victims for nourishment.

Kogasa gulps after turning around and nervously says "ha-ha-ha. Th-those tentacle-thingies are quite lovely, don't you think?"

"Not now! Just run!" exclaims Satori, who stretches her eye back and flashes the chasing monsters, knocking only one out and making a few others whine.

"Ugh! There's just too many of them!" shouts the frustrated satori, then she and the karakasa flash the monster's leader, forcing it to fall on the ground after burning its eyes and wings and making it whine like a wounded dog.

The tengu reporter clicks her tongue when she considers her current options.

She knows she can grab these two girls and outrun those monsters with ease, and the zombie fairies waiting for them on front are no problem at all.

But she is still angry at the satori youkai for getting so upset over such a trivial thing like getting bitten and scratched by those things. Trivial to the tengu, that is.

The hideous monsters behind them have their slimy claws only an inch away from the girls' arms when Aya finally makes her choice.

She lifts her camera, flashes the zombie fairies in front, killing seven at once, leans her body slightly and speeds up.

Both Satori and Kogasa watch in horror and disbelief as the tengu speeds up, and think they have been abandoned.

"Hold on tight!" shouts Aya after flinging her arms back and grabbing each girl by an arm, then increases her speed by focusing some gales on her feet.

They quickly gain distance from the pursuing monsters and zip by many more tentacle traps fast enough to avoid getting caught.

The tengu tackles fairies, a pair of those two-headed boars with decaying cat-like bodies, and then laughs triumphantly when she sees The Eternal Mansion; better known as Eientei; just a few more steps away.

She's not as fast as Momiji, the white wolf tengu, but Aya has still managed to gain distance from those horrendous monsters with the fetuses, and yet they are still hot on their trail, so without hesitation she rushes through the front gate, dashes past Eirin's Clinic, and enters through the mansion's door, zipping through them and sliding them open unnecessarily hard and making an unneeded loud bang.

"Close the doors!" shouts Satori the second she's on her feet, and she and Aya grab that front door and slide it to a close, but not before noticing their pursuers have once again disappeared.

The tengu girl pants and holds her chest, but even as winded as she is she manages to ask "wha... what the hell... happened to those? Why *pant* did they stop chasing us?"

"Wh-who knows? Just place a ward in case they're around," shakingly says the satori while scurrying her hands though her own backpack and taking one of the wards out.

The tengu frowns and snatches the piece of paper from the satori and furiously slams it against the wall and turns around to resume her argument with the purple-haired girl, however she turns her neck after noticing the ward just slides to the floor.

"Huh? What happened?" asks the confused tengu "what just happened here? Why did it fall off?"

"Hmph! Maybe there's a ward placed on these walls already," sighs the satori maiden while picking up the fallen ward.

"Um, I don't think so," says the karakasa ghost while taking a few steps backward toward the exit door and pointing inside the building.

Just like the Hakurei Shrine's house, this place is so dark it's hard to see past one's nose, and before the tengu suggest they leave a large bright beam illuminates the room.

The tengu and karakasa look between each other at the satori, who holds a black flashlight, and with a smug smirk on her face she says "heh, took these from Marisa's house. Somehow I just knew we'd need them," then hands each girl a black flashlight, though does so reluctantly to her tengu partner.

* * *

><p>The beams of light from the black tubes illuminate a wide area, and with three of those flashlights together, a very large chunk of the mansion is visible.<p>

"What a mess," whispers the karakasa youkai, and for good reasons.

Furniture lies on the floor, broken to several pieces and placed on each other like some sort of misshapen ornament.

There are large holes big enough to trap two bears at scattered locations on the floor, and the walls and ceiling are a disgusting sight.

"Urk! Thi-this is worse than the shrine," nervously says the tengu girl, doing her best to hold her meal inside her stomach.

The walls of Eientei have been painted with the blood and guts of some unfortunate beings, and the ceiling is adorned with the bloodied heads of many odd creatures, hung by the bit of neck left below their chins, or stuck with hooks on the bit of skin on the crown of their heads.

There is even the heads of one of those creatures that were chasing the girls just now, and what looks like the head of a human who's had his skin shaved off by a serrated blade.

Most of the blood from the heads above drip into the many holes below, but some stain the floor, and from the looks of things there has been someone moving around this area very recently.

The disgusted satori covers her nose in a useless attempt to avoid breathing in the smell of dried youkai blood and says "this is what we do. We turn around, get the hell out of here, and then get to yelling at each other later. Agreed?"

The reporter clicks her tongue and says "truce," while the karakasa can only watch her two new companions turn away from each other because of some fight, when they should be glad to have someone that's alive with them.

Images of her struggles come to her, when she was all alone while trying to find somewhere safe.

She remembers how lonely she kept feeling as they days passed and more and more zombies came after her, trying to eat her for some inexplicable reason.

And then she remembers that day, just as she was about to allow those things to finish her, how Yamame found her and saved her.

That feeling she felt when that living youkai came to her aid and ignored their differences to form an alliance, and then she remembers one more thing.

"Ah, y-you guys, um... Th-there's something I have to tell you, about those cloud in the sk-"

A loud crack mutes Kogasa's voice and the girls feel the pull of gravity take them into the darkness.

Confusion races in their minds; they can no longer tell where they are as they slide down some rough, but slippery surface.

Their screams echo all around the mansion's entrance and living rooms, but those are taken over by a loud childish cackle, followed by a dark shadow running away from the scene with haste.

Two whole minutes pass after they stopped sliding down the darkness, but Aya still feels as though her body is going through some slippery stone slide; however she remembers the situation she is in and wills herself on to her feet.

"Ugh," she pushes herself up with both hands, so that means they are still usable.

"Dizzy," she moves her legs and feels the world around her move a bit, but quickly recovers from that; but now there's something heavy lying on her butt.

"Uuh, Satori, get off my ass before I kick yours."

The response is a loud girly "c-can't move. Urk! Stomach moves."

"Kogasa?" exclaims the tengu before sliding from underneath the karakasa ghost and feeling the ground in front of herself for the flashlight; which she finds, turns on, and immediately points toward the turquoise girl.

"Where are we?" asks the karakasa, but the answer will have to wait.

The tengu girl moves the beam of the flashlight around and quickly learns they are inside an underground cave, and by the looks of things, it's been recently dug by a pair of rotting hands, evident by the stains of dry blood on the many pillars.

She spots bloodied nail marks on the wall next to Kogasa, turns away from the stench of rotting youkai, then sternly says "we're trapped. That's where we are."

Meanwhile, Satori wakes up and finds herself face down between a cave in progress of being built, and the stone flooring of what seems to be an underground prison, or something similar to that.

Her flashlight fell to her right and beams its light to half of her face and the hole on the stone wall that separates the small cave she's in and the room full of glass vials, tubes and beakers, some filled with odd-colored liquids.

"Uh, Kogasa? A-Aya?"

No response. Wherever she is, she all alone once again.

As she struggles with the pain on her arms to sit herself up a sob escapes her when she thinks of being alone once more, and then remembers what the tengu did to her.

Before her tears start flowing her fury takes over and says "stupid crow! Tch, to think she kept something so important hidden from me! Well I'm better off alo-"

She chokes. She quickly learns she can't finish her sentence, even as angry as she is, so she pouts and crosses her arms and legs, forgetting the pain she was feeling earlier, and takes a long and calming sigh.

She gulps as the realization of her predicament reaches her.

She doesn't know where she currently is, she doesn't know if there are monsters near her, and worst of all, she doesn't know if she has what it takes to survive long without her partner.

"I-" she turns the beam of her flashlight to the stone-walled room and finishes "I already survived on my own, so why should this be any different?"

Unaware of it, the girls are being separated by a five inch natural stone wall, and both Aya and Satori sit with their backs against that same wall, thinking about each other.

They sigh simultaneously, place their right hands on their heads while shaking them left and right, and then simultaneously say "**so much for our _training._**"

* * *

><p>After getting their bearings Aya and Kogasa start moving toward what they hope is the right way through that dark unnatural cave, and as they move the tengu girl inspects the digital camera, mostly to distract herself form thinking of Satori again.<p>

Seeing as the tengu is so _busy_ with that toy of hers, the karakasa youkai takes it upon herself to illuminate ahead so as not to crash against any of the thin columns as she walks.

The inside of the cave is far more expansive than first anticipated, and it seems it's been dug to look like a pillared palace meant to confuse anyone stranger to its architecture.

"Ayayaya, this one will not do," grumbles the tengu girl as she deletes pictures of clawed hands, white eyes, and rotting chests.

"I think you should apologize," quickly says the karakasa, to which the reporter turns around and roars "mind you own business little lady!"

Kogasa jumps away from the tengu's reach, then frowns and says "no! Listen, if you haven't noticed, we are the only ones that aren't freaks, and we all need to work together to get out of this alive!"

"She didn't have to go and get all mad about it!" barks the tengu girl. "Besides, I'm FINE! If I was gonna turn into one of those, brr, _things_, I'd have turned already, right?"

"But you are partners," argues the karakasa "like me and Yamame! The very first thing she says to me after we found each other after being attacked by Reimu, was '_Kogasa, I got bit._' It's true I got a little scared of her at first, but I still protected her!"

There is a moment of pause while Aya stares daggers at the turquoise girl, who continues "she could have kept herself quiet because I might have tried to kill her, but we respected each other enough for her to trust me with that knowledge, and for me to NOT try and kill her."

"Wait a minute!" shouts the tengu while pointing an accusing finger between the karakasa's eyes before asking "how did you even know she was going to turn?"

The knowledge hurts the ghost, but she steels herself, gulps her urge to cry, and says "because I've seen it!"

They stop walking; Kogasa lowers her head until her eyes are hiding under her hair while the tengu reporter stares and pushes away her urge to take a picture of the girl.

"It happened about a week and a half ago. I was at the graveyard behind the temple when I saw these stinky decaying fairies attack a human girl and eat her before my eyes. At first I didn't care, but after a few hours that body was already rotten. After that she got up, walked over to me, then she tried to eat me."

The tengu girl writes down on her notepad as fast as she can while keeping her eyes on the girl as she sobs and says "and-and then I went to tell Lady Hijiri. That's when I saw that mouse girl bite the captain on the neck. I saved her, and then we hid away in a secret room inside Miss Shou's room."

She looks up at the tengu reporter with tear-filled eyes and continues "two days after that she said it was hurting all over and asked me to kill her. I couldn't. I... didn't want to hurt her, and then she turns into a monster before my very eyes, Miss Aya."

"_Wait a minute. That's Captain Murasa. She's tough, but it only took her two days to transform. I got bit and scratched a whole week ago, and look at me. W-wait, then what-?_"

Aya's thoughts are quickly halted when the karakasa ghost continues "I quickly understood what happened and ran away from there. I-it's a good thing I developed that flash to surprise humans when I did, because it really saved my butt, but even with that I was sure I was going to die... That is, until I met Miss Yamame."

The girls resume their walk again with the tengu holding the girl by her shoulder as she continues "that's why I think you should apologize and make up with Miss Satori. She got angry because she's scared. I bet you she thinks that, if she can't trust her partner, then who can she trust?"

The stubborn tengu's thoughts are stopped before she can even think a single word when the girls come across a single wall separated from any support other than the roof, where a pair of torches reveal a large couch made from the several rotting corpses of zombie fairies and humans.

Kogasa twitches and hides behind Aya as the reporter asks "what the hell is this creepy thing?"

She takes three pictures and looks at the result on the small digital screen on the back of the camera, then notices some letters written on the wall with fresh blood, even though there was nothing there just now.

When she looks back to the wall she only has enough time to read the word "BOO!" before the lights go out.

"Kegehahahahaha! Welcome to my kingdom, freshmen," says a double-toned warped voice that possesses the entire room.

Instead of torches, a pair of bright lanterns switch on to reveal a ghoulish youkai rabbit with green skin, a left arm that's missing the back skin, showing off a disgusting yellow bone with some flesh still stuck on the elbow joint, her eyes are no more and her sockets continue oozing black blood without stop, and her bloodstained pink dress is missing the left half of the skirt and the top.

The ghoulish zombie Tewi grins to her guests and points up at her bloody message, which reads "_BOO! Now give me your breasts and we'll drink puss tea with milk._"

The tengu girl stares at that rabbit while the karakasa remains hidden behind her current partner, then Aya gulps and asks "T-T-Tewi? Tewi I-Inaba, right?"

"Kehehehehahahaha!"

The zombie rabbit cackles and widens her grin, showing off her buck teeth and what few rotting teeth she has left on her bleeding gums, and with that warped dual-toned voice casually says "hey, what's up?"

The girls remain silent, stunned at the sight of the rabbit lounging on that disgusting couch, then the zombie points inside her bleeding eye sockets and casually says "kehahaha! It's all fun and games until someone pops the eye juice! And THEN who drinks the iris beer? Am I right?"

The tengu lifts her camera, the karakasa follows and prepares her umbrella, then Tewi snarls and jumps to the roof, the lights turn off again and the zombie rabbit says "aww, and here I thought I could be friends with the sexy. Well, whatever. It was nice knowing you. Please be sure to die gracefully. Oh, and if your guts spill out please let my ladies eat them through intestinal straws. They are FAMISHED! Even after that all-seeing pizza! KEHAHAHAHAHA!"

A single spotlight turns its powerful beam toward the single wall where now lies a box on the disgusting couch with a half-circle flat piece of bread drenched with blood and topped with skin and pruned eyeballs.

"KOGASA!" shouts Aya before they both turn on their flashlights again and quickly learn they have been surrounded by many rotting rabbits with bladed ears.

They rapidly walk to the wall with the corpses-couch and the disgusting-looking food, press their back to said wall, hoping it will offer some cover, then both girls flash the zombie rabbits, and their battle for survival resumes.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Satori explores the room she fell in, being the only available option at the time for her.<p>

She is inside a dark underground laboratory with a metal table in the middle, and cabinets and counters all around with chemicals all over the tops.

Some of the beakers and vials are turned over, others are broken and spilled on the ground, mixing up and creating questionable brown concoctions with an undesirable stench, and there are signs of blood on the left walls, but it's old and dry.

The satori girl is currently on the farthest side of the room where there are many books, notepads and lose pieces of paper placed neatly between two small eagle statues on top of a surprisingly clean countertop.

"Nothing useful," sighs the satori while passing her flashlight's beam around the papers, and then gasps at the sight of one particular piece of blue paper with letters written in dark-blue ink.

"What's this?" she asks herself after picking it up, then places the light on it and begins to read.

_This is the strangest mist I have ever seen. It carries a magical virus that, other than smelling like clogged sewage, alters DNA and neural flux, so those affected by it are in constant need of sustenance, while at the same time possessing incredible strength._

_Udonge was the first to start showing odd symptoms after inhaling this mist, probably because she was cleaning the rooftop without wearing a mask. I will have to punish her for such an oversight._

_Regardless of that, I took a sample from her and found myself fascinated by this virus, and at the same time, I'm horrified._

_First it enters the host trough respiratory tract and immediately goes to the brain. Once there, it mutates and turns into a rather nasty parasite._

_If I were to describe it in the common tongue, I'd say it looks like a club with several mouths and sharp teeth. It bites the brain mass and absorbs the grey matter to reproduce, then its offspring, which are numerous, make their way to the stomach and devour any nutritional supplement they can find._

_After that, they eat the stomach walls, get into the bloodstream and destroy the host by eating the vital organs, however, and this is rather odd, after they are done, the host will become immortal._

_Sometimes it will even cause mutations, just like it did to Udonge, whom I had to close up before I could study this fascinating virus any further._

_The process is fast and painful. It can take up to three hours, or two days, depending on the host's will and strength._

_I'll still need to find an ant-_

The note ends right there, as though being finished in a hurry, then Satori thinks "_this must be from that Lunarian doctor. Then that means this must be her laboratory. I wonder if I can find any more of these notes around-_"

The girl swiftly turns around and aims her light at the metal table when something above it squeaks loudly and then splats on the ground.

She aims her light above the table and sees a ceiling lamp swinging left and right, squeaking as it moves, then quickly aims the light to the ground and stares at the pool of fresh blood.

She covers her nose when the smell of death reaches her, and as she frantically searches around for whatever is in the room with her, she notices a small ivory switch on the wall.

It's close, and thinking this will open a door to freedom the satori youkai rushes to it and flips it up.

The room's lights all turn on "**GAAAHHH!**"

She now comes face to face with a hairless female rabbit with muscular arms and sharp claws on its hands, black eyeballs, and the lower part of it looks like it's been ripped off and gnawed by something small that's left its intact guts spilling off the remaining skin and the lower part of the backbone bare.

The muscular female rabbit with rotting skin roars and swings its left arm, scratching the satori with its claw on the right arm and making her fall down and hold her hand as she winces.

She now has two small gashes just below her shoulder, and seems the rabbit with the missing bottom is ready for another strike, but Satori snarls and shouts "go to **hell** you disgusting freak!"

Her adrenaline runs so fast and hard through her that she flashes the beast five times so swiftly and intensely the monster writhes around while its skin sizzles, even after being temporarily _killed_ since the fourth flash.

Satori yelps after the throbbing pain hits her brain several times, letting her know she messed up, that she's going to be turning into one of those creatures soon, and then she sobs.

"_This is how she felt. Was Aya this scared when she got scratched? Did it hurt so-?_"

Her thoughts are brought to an abrupt halt when the throbbing pain becomes a sharp and cold sting and she cries out automatically.

Her tears start flowing when fear and pain take her mind, then she cries out "I'm sorry Aya! I didn't know!"

She starts convulsing when that pain becomes sharper and sharper, and then it all stops so quickly it takes her an entire minute to feel the soothing sensation of relief.

The satori can hear herself breath louder than she really is as she slowly comes to the realization that the pain she was feeling has left her as quickly as it started.

"*Gulp* Wh-what. j-just happen?" she asks herself as she looks around the room with lost eyes, and touches her arm then gasps and turns her sight to that shoulder.

Nothing; the wound is gone, though the blood that stained her sleeve is still there.

She breathes through her mouth to catch up to her own heart while doing what she can to explore her arm some more in disbelief, then smiles and chuckles madly before saying "I-hahah! I'm ok! The wound, hahahah... but-"

The girl remembers what she had just read a few moments ago and says to herself "b-but what if it's just being delayed?"

Her thoughts turn to the tengu, who had been bitten and scratched many days before and still hasn't turned.

The piece of paper falls next to her, making her think the words "_it can take up to three hours or two days,"_ and she rapidly picks it up, folds it, then stuffs it in her backpack before getting up and walking to the door.

She stares at the half-rabbit zombie lying on the ground and spilling its vile dark blood around itself through its mouth, eyes and that open bottom, then looks at her own arm and stares at where the wound should be, sighs, then opens the door and cautiously walks up a set of stairs, sighing before saying to herself "I better go find the girls. I'll have to tell them everything. The truth... and apologize to Aya."

* * *

><p>The tengu and the karakasa run through the confusing cave, wondering if they are going back, running around in circles, or heading the right way.<p>

The rabbit-made pillars all look so similar that the girls cannot tell them apart at all, especially in their hurry to run away from a mob of raging zombie rabbits.

"There's no end to them," cries Kogasa after flashing ten more rabbits to their _deaths_, but seems like fifty more take the place of the fallen.

"Whyyyyy! It's like their multiplying while running," cries out Aya with an understandably irritated tone of voice.

The tengu's expression freezes up as she glances upward, then shudders and says "pfffshhh! No way!"

The karakasa stares at her partner and asks "what? What is it?"

The reporter's cheeks turn green as she says "nothing, I was just imagining those rabbits having zombie s- Er, you know what, never mind. Let's just run."

The hungry zombie rabbits begin to snarl and hiss as they get closer to their tiring prey, but to their dismay Aya remembers her fan, takes it out of her belt, and twirls on her left foot while swinging it will force, creating a powerful gale that sends every single one of those rabbits flying backward.

The rabbits fall scattered all over the cave, some slamming against the columns, others falling sprawled on the floor, and some splat on the ground and lose either their eyes, limbs or bladed ears.

"Nice shot," exclaims Kogasa as she flips a thumb up at the tengu.

Aya returns the thumb up with her own, then smiles and says "it's all in the wrist, my friend-**BOOOFF!**"

Something blunt with solid and sharp bumps strikes all the air out of the tengu, who falls on her knees and holds on to her bleeding stomach.

"Aya-san, wh-**AARGH!**"

Before the karakasa ghost can ask, she receives a blunt strike to the head and falls on her side, but quickly gets up, groaning from the pain, and holds a bleeding wound on her head with both hands.

"You little bitches," says the warped dual-toned voice of the ghoulish Tewi "hurting my girls like that, and even after they try to do you a favor as awesome as turning you into immortal zombies with decaying flesh. You should be ashamed."

Even with the pain taking every inch of their bodies, the tengu and karakasa struggle to their feet and immediately flash to the right.

"**KSHHHHAAAAAAA~!**" screams the ghoulish rabbit girl while kicking around the ground, revealing herself to the girls who immediately aim to flash her again, but are forced to turn around and flash the several zombie rabbits aiming their teeth to the girls' necks.

The rabbits screech after being disposed off and Tewi flips from her back and on to her feet, snarls furiously, then points at the girls and shouts "you fucking cows think this is funny, but it's **not**! FINE! I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no other choice! Next time I see you I'll make you **suffer**, then stuff your holes with rubber ribbons made out of BUTT PUSS!"

"AFTER HER!" shouts Aya, and she and Kogasa use their flashlights to follow after the fleeing Tewi in hopes of reaching the surface again, and in hopes of escaping the many zombie rabbits that are still behind them.

Meanwhile, Satori exits a wooden door and finds herself in a dark and narrow corridor with three doors to her right, and one to her left.

She aims her flashlight around and notices the middle door to the right is open, and so fear takes her and freezes her where she is.

"_No, Satori Komeiji you stop this! You must do your best, and cowering in a corner is not the best,_" thinks the girl as she unfreezes her hand to look around for any other way of escaping.

None. She steels herself after resigning to the only option of going through that hall and checking each door, then takes a deep breath.

The first step is hard, and feels as though she's trying to move a steel rod instead of her own leg, but she takes it.

She gulps down her beating heart and says to herself "you have to do this. Move," then walks to the closest door.

Her steps thump softly as she approaches her target as slowly as she can as to not give away her position to anything that might be lurking about "_but if I can hear those thumps, so can they. I better prepare,_" thinks the girl before placing her hand on the silver knob.

She turns the well-greased doorknob and pushes the door just wide enough for her flashlight to go through and illuminate the pitch-black room.

The satori gasps when her peeking left eye catches the sight of a hideous indescribable mutation tied with hooks that are latched on from the outside of the skin and hung from around the ceiling, its ribcage and organs are bare, its blood is spread all over the entirety of the room, and the only thing that can identify the mutilated creature is the nose of a boar that's been tied up with a black wire that's tied to the right-side wall.

The creature senses the living satori and gurgles and thrashes about violently in an attempt to attack.

The girl shuts the door as fast as she can and rapidly breaths through her mouth what little fresh air the narrow corridor has to offer.

She takes two steps back and places her hand on her chest, then gulps and says to herself "that was disgusting. Oh spirits, that was just too disgusting. B-but I have to move. I-it might get lose!"

Her own anxiousness makes her feel dizzy, but she forces herself to walk forward, as straight as possible, and then stumbles on the doorway of the open room.

Satori's body freezes, and even her eyes fail to move when she hears heavy breathing coming from within the room.

She manages to somehow lift her flashlight, but her entire body is shaking so violently the light itself looks like a laser show, but again she steels herself and controls the violent shivering.

She aims the beam of light straight forward and her eyes bulge when yet another sight greets her.

This thing looks like a wall of muscles with grayish-green skin, long lilac hair, has a pair of rumpled rabbit ears on the head, though one seems it's just about ready to fall off, and on its left arm is the sleeve what used to be a black shirt, and around its waist is a frilly belt that used to be a pink skirt.

"_Udonge. bad. punished. cut. Master hurt!_"

The mutated Moon Rabbit's thoughts rush into the satori's own mind, and all the youkai can see is how this girl was cut in half and explored by the one she calls '_master_'.

"Eirin Yagokoro," whispers the girl while she continues seeing the images inside Reisen, then a tear escapes her right eye as she whispers "what kind of master would do that to their own pet? E-Eirin, you are... a BITCH!"

The mutated rabbit growls after Satori's insult toward the Lunarian, but then she whimpers, sounding chocked, with a deep tone fit for a male rather than a female.

"Th-that's not your voice, is it m-miss Udonge?" asks the purple-haired girl from the doorway.

"_Kill. Insult master. MUST KILL!_" screams the mutant rabbit in her mind as she raises her head, revealing a black blindfold on her eyes, the scar from the cut that her precious master gave her which starts on her head and trails all the way down her entire body, and a mallet twice her own size with its thin tip lodged on the wall and holding down the rabbit with its handle secure across her neck.

Her ankles and wrists have been shackled to the steel chair she sits on, and even though she tries to move to kill the girl in front, there is nothing she can actually do.

The satori wants to help, but after reading those thought patterns she understand there is nothing she can actually do.

"I- I'm sorry Miss Udonge. I wish I could help, but I wouldn't know what to do," whispers the satori girl as she walks backward toward the narrow corridor, then turns her flashlight away and points it at the single left-side door.

She stares at its brass knob for some time and builds up her courage.

"_Well, these two doors go into other rooms, so maybe this one leads out? Only one way to find out,_"

The girl takes a deep breath, takes quick steps to the door, and turns that knob fast, then kicks the door open.

* * *

><p>Aya and Kogasa keep chasing after the ghoulish rabbit, and although she's out of their sight, they keep following the blood drops that keep oozing out of her eyes and making a trail.<p>

"The damned wall again!" exclaims the tengu in frustration.

"You bouncing cows think I'll lead you out? I'm not stupid," hisses Tewi, making her voice echo around the room, then adds "but I'm getting sick of you, and running around will give me no satisfaction, so~"

"Miss Aya, she's going right," says the karakasa, then the reporter barks "after her," and then both run after the rabbit in a straight line in the darkness, avoiding some pillars along the way.

The back of the tengu reporter's shirt rips, and she turns around and elbows a zombie rabbit off her shoulder blade, then snaps the camera six times, making many more rabbits screech and hiss as they fall.

"I'm sorry, I'll be more alert for you," cries the karakasa, then starts running backward, flashes many times in a row killing more of those rabbits and diminishing their numbers, then slams hard against one of the pillars with her back.

She moans as she gets up and shakes her head a bit in an attempt to make the world stop moving around, then feels something strong grab her shoulder and pull.

"M-Miss Aya, help," dizzily moans the karakasa ghost.

"Kogasa I swear, you have to be more damned careful or I'm leaving you behind!" shouts the tengu, who is holding the karakasa by her shoulder and running toward a dim blue glow at the end of the cave.

"Run squishy squid, RUN," calls Tewi as her frame zips through the dim light, so Aya with Kogasa still on hand speeds up and jumps to it.

Their flashlights beam reveals a large hole in front of the dim light, but to their luck the tengu's legs were strong enough to jump over it and tackle a hard stone door into one of the rooms of the mansion.

The room has a small dim neon lamp hanging from the ceiling, is filled with bloodied broken tea tables, torn cushions with their cotton stuffing pulled out and stained in something yellow and smelly, and on the walls, written in blood are the letters "S-C-A-R".

The reporter girl takes a picture of the letters, and as she lowers her camera she asks "a scar? What the HECK does that mean?"

The karakasa ghost holds her hand over her eyes while recovering from her daze and says "that rabbit girl is crazy. It's probably nothing," then she lowers her hand and looks around the room to make sure her sight is normal again.

The squeaks, hisses and high-pitched roars announce the soon-arrival of the zombie rabbits, so the tengu exclaims "time to go," the karakasa quickly shouts "HAI," then both girls run out of the door and into the eternal corridor.

"Ayayayaya, Reimu told me about this. This corridor can get confusing," says the black-haired girl while looking around in a panic.

The turquoise-haired girl ignores her partner and aims her flashlight on the ground, then says "it's ok. She left a trail," then signals the crow tengu to look at the floor and at the trail of blood left behind by the zombie youkai rabbit.

The paper door rips open, startling the girls into yelps and quick flashes, then Aya exclaims "no more waiting and just MOVE," and she and Kogasa run after this trail while being chased by more blade-eared zombie rabbits.

The blood-drops trail goes straight for as long as the beams will shine and seems to go on even further, which is currently good for the girls who are more concerned about the large group of monsters behind, trying to kill them.

They turn around, flash and continue running, the rabbits keep screeching and dying but press on.

"Turn left!" exclaims the karakasa when the trail suddenly turns into a door, and she and the tengu waste no time in turning and going through it, but neither do the remaining zombie rabbits.

They end up in another corridor, and again the trail take a sudden turn to the right, just after two steps, and the girls follow, managing to take out more rabbits during the turn.

"KYAH!"

The tengu yelps and drops on her left side on the floor of a dimly lit and surprisingly well organized and clean room, and holds the right side of her hip, and then the last remaining rabbits jump to her; one of them missing an ear.

The karakasa jumps in front of the girl, opens her umbrella to push back the monsters, then flashes them to the death as they are flung away, ridding themselves of those rabbits, for now.

Breathing through her mouth the girl turns to her partner and calls her name in concern, then drops on her knees and pulls the tengu's hands away from the blood to see what happened.

She gasp when she sees one of those blade-like ears stuck inside Aya's skin, but without any hesitation she pulls the blade out and throws it away, then holds the tengu's head and screams "please don't die! Please I beg you! Miss Aya!"

The tengu girl convulses and her eyes turn upward as though she's having a seizure, and looking at this reminds the turquoise girl of that moment when she found Yamame on the ground after having being bitten by zombie Reimu.

"No," she cries from fear and despair "no, not again! *Sniffle* Why does this keep happening? I failed you Miss Tengu Aya!"

Right after saying that the tengu stops convulsing, she closes her eyes, takes deep and relaxing breaths, and the karakasa girl, and even her umbrella, watch with surprised looks as the wound on the tengu heals as if nothing ever happened.

"Wa- I... Am I seeing...?"

She touches the girl's bare skin through the new tear on her shirt to make sure the wound is really gone, then exchanges glances with her umbrella and says "nothing. She's not getting the yellow squishy skin like Yamame."

Annoyed, trying to hide her blushing cheeks and holding her ticklish laughter, the aggravated tengu says "I. am. fine. P-please stop touching me there."

Kogasa stands up and takes two steps away from the tengu, then says "you. How did you do that? You are not tainted. Y-you're one of them, aren't you!?"

Aya ends up covering her eyes with her arms to block out the unending flashes coming from Kogasa's umbrella, sits up, and trying to sound as calm as possible she says "I'm not one of them, so please stop that."

The flashes stop, but she can hear the karakasa breathing through her mouth out of nervousness.

She understands the girl as she, too, would question anyone who's been scratched and hasn't turned, then thinks about Satori.

The reporter smiles, tilts her head up to meet the karakasa youkai's eyes, then says "look, I don't understand why, but I'm fine. I'm not one of them or I would probably try to kill you and eat you, or whatever it is those things want to do to us. Just- Please, help me get out of here. Help me find Satori. I think... you are right. I need to apologize to her."

At first, the cute and scared karakasa ghost doesn't really believe a word the tengu says, however she slowly gives in the more she looks into those honest red eyes, then nods, slowly stretches her lips to make a smile, then says "s-sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I just thought-"

She walks over to the tengu and offers her hand and says "come Miss Aya, we need to find Miss Satori now."

The reporter's smile widens to a friendly grin, accepts the offered hand, and then gets pulled on her feet where she dusts her shirt while the karakasa dusts her skirt and back.

"Keghe-HAHAHAHAHAA~ Aww, how **endearing!** Lesbian love in the middle of Master's bedroom. She should be PLEASED! Let me help you spread some bodily juices and inner flesh around the room to lighten the mood. You know, for when master arrives."

Tewi's voice echoes all around the mansion, making it impossible to pin-point her location, and the girls yelp when dried bamboo shoots made into lances pierce through the walls and ceiling and threaten to kill them in a most painful manner.

"Let's keep moving," yells the frightened tengu, to which the terrified karakasa whimpers "faster, faster! Those look painful!"

They crash through the door the very moment a pair of bamboo shoots stick right where they were standing, and now they seem to be safe in the dark corridor.

They aim their flashlights forward, and then the tengu exclaims "that bitch!"

The rabbit knew she was being followed because of her eye blood and did something so it splattered everywhere.

Now it is impossible to know where exactly she went, but then Aya smiles confidently.

The karakasa looks at her partner and asks "what is it? Do you know the way?"

The tengu nods and says "that stupid bitch thinks we'll fall for that, but I recognize that stench. If we go straight we'll end up in the living room."

She turns her sight to the nodding karakasa ghost and says "Kogasa, once we are there we jump over those holes and make our way OUT! And be ready to flash ANYTHING that moves, even a falling mop, we FLASH the godsdamned hell out of it!"

The girl nods, courage and resolve fill her eyes, and then she and the tengu make their way toward the foyer and living room, feeling ready for anything they might find on the way.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Satori hides behind a sturdy desk and growls angrily while holding the back of her third eye with her left hand.<p>

She raises it and flashes the room once, two creatures hiss and screech, and there are two thuds afterward.

After that, something cracks a whip in the air and the horrific sound of bodies being crunched and chewed on follows and endures for almost thirty seconds, then silence takes the room again.

"Grrr. You gonna keep eating, huh? Why don't you just **die**? Goddamned brainless... thing!"

Anxious, agitated and frustrated, the satori youkai screams, punches the floor and stomps, but remains hidden behind that desk.

She is behind Eirin's desk at the waiting room of her clinic, and with her are five human zombies, all wearing bloodied clothes with holes and tears where horrendous wounds were dealt.

Their skins are so pale their veins, thought dry, are plainly visible, the two men's hairs look dry, the women's look thin and dirty, and one of them has had the top of her kimono opened, revealing a large black hole on her chest that is missing her ribs and heart.

Some of them are bleeding though their mouths and eyes, others through their noses and ears, but one thing they all share in common is the unnaturally thick and sharp nails on their fingers, and the large fangs in their open mouths.

In the center of the room is a purple bamboo vine that's mutated to have a bird-like head and beak large enough to swallow two humans whole, its stem looks like stretched out burnt skin, the bottom is surrounded by the pool of blood from its many victims, and its developed tentacles large enough to take the whole room, however it cannot reach Eirin's desk, no matter how hard it tries to reach for the live youkai hiding behind it.

"You ate six of them already! **ENOUGH!**" shouts the desperate girl while raising her third eye over the desk once more and flashing toward the plant.

To her surprise it growls softly, finally showing signs of discomfort, then Satori finally smiles and whispers "finally, a break."

She looks to the bodies of the few zombie fairies and a two headed boar she dealt with after kicking open the door from the corridor in front of the door, and thinks "_it's been one thing after another in here. I hope Aya and Kogasa are alive._"

Outside, the doors to the mansion explode to bits, and Tewi jumps from within, lands in front of the porch, then hisses, sticks her hands inside her eye sockets and splashes that oozing dark brown blood toward the stairs.

The eggplant colored umbrella rushes out of the door, protecting the girls behind it from the blood, then the tengu and karakasa jump over the rabbit and Aya takes a picture while the zombie looks up in shock at them.

Tewi writhes on the ground, kicks the air, and hisses threateningly, while the tengu girl bravely steps forward and defiantly says "little piece of crap you are, talking all big for nothing! Die, you trash!"

Before she can take the picture the ghoulish rabbit flings a rock at the girl's forehead and quickly dives on the ground as though plunging head-first into water, and while Aya rubs her forehead the rabbit swiftly burrows her way toward the clinic.

She jumps out from under the ground, lands on both feet, then stomps her left foot and waves her fists around her sides while shouting "you fucking bitches with big boobs will get it now! I will kill you, then I'll take your dead guts and eat them, then I'll puke them and eat them again, and I'll make **DAMNED** sure to use my teeth while eating you!"

Before the disgusted girls can even react to that, the rabbit kicks open the door to the clinic and rushes inside with haste.

From behind the desk the satori girl twitches at the loud bang from the door, thinking the plant monster did something.

"Take that, you stupid guardian! Now step aside!"

The purple-haired girl is surprised to hear the dual-toned voice of the ghoulish rabbit and the screech of the bamboo monster, then peeks her head, sees Tewi as she rushes to the corridor and thinks "_who the heck is that? Did she just kill that plant on her own?_"

She can hear Aya shouting "after her," and smiles as though she's just heard one of her pets calling for her.

The wall behind the girl explodes and a giant muscular greenish hand clutches the satori and squeezes her.

With a deep voice, the blindfolded mutant moon rabbit says "bad girl, speaks bad of Master! Punishment!"

She holds the massive mallet with her right hand and carries the ghoulish Tewi on her left shoulder.

The small eyeless rabbit smacks the back of Reisen's head and says "cut the crap mutant hulk. We got skins to skin and eyes to see!"

The bulky lummox of a mutant rabbit moves her folded head toward the ghoulish zombie, wondering what had just been said to her, but regardless of understanding or not she squeezes Satori, making her gag and cough, and winds her hulking left arm.

Outside, the tengu and karakasa stop their advance toward the clinic after hearing the ruckus from within, then Kogasa exclaims "something's coming!"

They wait for a moment and slowly back away from the clinic's door, then the wall to the left bursts, and the satori maiden flies backward, straight toward the tengu girl, crashes against the unsuspecting girl, and both slide then roll a few feet before finally stopping; Aya making sure the digital camera remains safe.

"Guys! Guys, speak to me," calls the karakasa ghost as she dashes toward her friends.

The tengu and mind-reader slowly rise from the ground; the satori taking deep breaths of fresh air, then both get on their knees while they recover their bearings.

The girls look around each other until they finally realize they are together again and stare into each others' eyes.

"WATCH OUT!" shouts the turquoise girl before words can even form on the staring girls, and the brave youkai opens her umbrella to block another splash for brown blood that comes from the massive hole on the clinic's wall.

It splats on the umbrella and misses its tongue by inches, then the eye of the umbrella flashes and disintegrates the blood.

Kogasa turns her neck to the tengu and satori and exclaims "something's coming! Get ready!"

A massive fist breaks through the ceiling of the clinic, the entire front collapses on its own weight, and the mutant Reisen jumps an impressive thirty feet in the air and lands right in front of the destroyed clinic, creating a small crater upon landing.

Exposed to the outside light, the satori can see a large rotting spot on the rabbit's muscular torso, and realizes her skin is more a sickly greyish-yellow, rather than green as she first thought.

"JUMP!" shouts Aya, and all three girls spread to avoid the hulking rabbit's massive mallet.

She makes another small crater at the mallet's point of impact, but what surprised the girls is noticing the massive metal spike growing out of the mallet's head as its being lifted.

Tewi laughs manically at the girls' expressions and says "you think wood will hold this retarded ball of muscle down? This is steel you idiots. Modified it myself to turn even the most stubborn vampire into pixie piss in one swing, guaranteed to work, or your veins back!"

All three girls know that one hit from that thing will mean a most painful death, and even if they can revive after a while, who knows what that crazed ghoul would do while they are out.

"Udonge," commands the zombie rabbit, and Reisen swings her mallet sideways several times, aiming at the sound of heartbeats coming from the agitated living youkai.

Aya gasps and exclaims "that's Udonge? What the hell happened to her?"

"Udonge," commands Tewi, to which the muscular rabbit stops, then the small rabbit smiles and says "Master Eirin tried something. An injection to the girl's brain. Then this happened. Poor girl lost all her curves, female features, her brain, but gained great strength and power."

While the rabbit explains the tengu stares at the blindfold around Reisen's head, squints her eyes while analyzing it, then gasps and shouts "bring her down! Bring her down NOW!"

* * *

><p>All three girls flash both Tewi and Reisen without mercy, all doing their best to dodge the massive spiked hammer being swung at them, and both rabbits roar and screech as the flashes burn their skins.<p>

However, the cunning zombie rabbit knows what has Aya so worried, and reaches for Udonge's blind fold, ignoring the searing pain from the flashes, and with a push of will the unties it.

"Oh shit! HIDE," screams the tengu when she sees that black cloth falling to the ground, and Satori and Kogasa quickly learn why.

That reporter has faced the Lunar Rabbit before and knows what she can do with those eyes, and with her current mutation she fears what she could do now.

Risen opens her feral glowing red eyes, her face turns beastly, she drops her mallet and roars so loudly the girls, and even Tewi, have to cover their ears, and a massive red beam from her eyes takes the entirety of the front yard.

Aya hides underneath what used to be the door of the clinic, and Satori and Kogasa hide behind the karakasa's umbrella, but to the turquoise girl's dismay what affects her umbrella also affects her.

She looks at the satori youkai with fear, and to her the entire surrounding area is full of zombie rabbits.

She screams when those rabbits all jump to her, and in her mind the rabbits are chewing her skin, and she cries as though she's feeling the pain for real.

"She's in a mental shock! What should we do?" exclaims the satori maiden.

"Ok, this is bad, but it's not as bad as I thought," replies the tengu reporter.

She looks into Satori's eyes and sees the confusion in them, then thinks of her encounters with the Moon Rabbit, and thinks "_she could make illusions come to life, and induce lunacy as well. Seems the latter is still in effect there, so even if it's not real and we're not getting harmed, we will still end up like Kogasa._"

The mind-reader nods twice, then softly says "together then?"

Reisen snarls and drools a green slime while intensifying her Lunatic Eyes, then Tewi cackles and shouts "hide ALL YOU WANT! We'll flush you out, stick our hands in your holes, pull all those DELICIOUS insides outside, and FEAST upon them as a celebration!"

"Eat shit and die, rabbit freak," shouts the tengu, then she peeks her camera to the door's right, the satori peeks her eye above the purple umbrella and shouts "THREE!"

Tewi jumps behind Reisen's neck the very second the girls' powerful flashes overpower the hulking rabbit's Lunacy Beam.

The massive rabbit roars and flails about, holding her eyes and whining when blood starts trickling down her cheeks.

"UDONGE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" shouts the ghoulish rabbit, jumping on Reisen's right shoulder and holding her head as though in a hug.

The hulking rabbit's whine sound like a monster's lament before death, but as she's comforted by the zombie rabbit the whines lessen and seem to turn to coos, however they still sound disturbingly monstrous to the youkai girls.

Kogasa finally stops screaming and breathes in as her mind relaxes, slowly recovering as she realizes she is just fine, however she remains semi-conscious.

Aya and Satori jump out of hiding and flash the large rabbit once more, making her roar again, then they notice "**where's the other one?**"

They feel the ground beneath them eat their feet, then scream and gag when Tewi jumps from a hole between the two and clothesline both on the neck, forcing them to bend backward in a most painful way before allowing them to fall on the ground.

She jumps back on to Reisen's shoulder and command "contain," then the hulking rabbit, even though having lost both eyes, both burned to a crisp because mere flashes from a camera and a spell, slams her hands on top of their bodies, leaving their heads exposed between her fingers.

Tewi snarls, Reisen pushes her hands harder, pushing the air right out of the girls' chests, then the ghoulish rabbit hops off her large partner's shoulders and lands on the girls' foreheads.

She turns around and bends over, dripping that brown blood from her eyes on the two girls' hairs, and sinisterly whispers "you fucking bitches. You think that just because we don't have eyes we cannot see. But you are wrong!"

She rises and raises her hands to the air and declares "we have to turn you! To show you how MARVELOUS this gift is! We don't need eyes to see your light, we don't die, we are stronger than **ever!** We don't need to sleep, we don't need to dream! This is what being perfect is all about!"

"You're mad," barks Satori with struggled breath.

The rabbit places her foot on the girl's forehead and twists it around while pushing down hard as she says "MADNESS IS A POINT OF VIEW!" then stops torturing the girl and walks between them.

"For the first time I feel my brain and heart working as one! For the first time I feel PERFECT! True, the taste of flesh and fresh organs is... something I'd love to be rid of, but who cares!"

She leans over and picks the girls' limp hands, gets them closer to her mouth, then sinisterly whispers "once you turn you will understand. Once you understand we will celebrate! After celebrations, we will turn this world into a glorious-"

Reisen retract her massive hands and roars furiously as the karakasa ghost flashes the back of her head directly, then jumps off the massive rabbit and shouts "take the bitch out!"

Tewi freezes for a second, Aya and Satori flash her fast, making her screech and cover her eye-sockets, then both rise from the imprints of their frames on the dirt, pull their feet out of the ground, flash upward one more time, then roll away in opposite directions.

The zombie rabbit recovers and snarls at the tengu, but quickly looks back, frowns, her ears droop even more, then she whimpers "oh, for hell's damned sake."

She watches as Reisen's massive body falls silently toward her.

The thud is loud, the impact causes the mansion itself to rattle, and Tewi's body cracks underneath the Moon Rabbit's weight, and yet she still lives.

The three girls approach the zombie's head, the only visible part of her body underneath the massive Udonge, and she scowls as she looks up at the girls with those disgusting sockets and says "fine, you won! Now get the hell out of here! But we will never stop hunting you! You will become one of us and **you. will. like it!**"

Exhausted, Satori and Kogasa turn around and walk away, while Aya, though equally exhausted, looks neutrally at the trapped ghoul, lifts her camera, and takes several pictures of the zombie rabbit.

She hisses, she roars, she screeches, but it's not after she gurgles her last that the tengu stops taking pictures, turns around, and walks away, keeping that neutral and uninterested look on her face.

* * *

><p>The afternoon walk down the bamboo forest is a silent one, and rather uneventful.<p>

A few zombie fairies have made attempts to take a bite, but none have been successful.

They jump over the spread tentacles of yet another green bamboo shoot, and when clear of the trap the satori youkai gasps.

Right in front of them, with a mouthful of blood dripping down her lips and chin is Alice Margatroid.

She stands sideways and glances them with her blackish-red right eye and snarls.

At first the girls think of running away, but all three straighten up and snarl back, and with tired and furious glares they ready their weapons.

The zombie puppeteer with a new set of inexplicable guts surrounding her skeletal legs, turns to face the three girls head-on, raises her hands and reveals her headless dolls, then screeches loud and long.

The eight dolls sprout a head made of blue fire, all hold two zombie claws on each hand, and Alice herself seems to surround herself in an unnatural blue flame.

The girls don't care. They just want to finish this zombie off and resume their way, but before they can begin they are greeted by another familiar screech.

They turn around to look at the monsters with fetus-heads standing behind them with both main body and fetuses awake, swaying their tentacles around and screeching in high-pitched tones.

Aya opens her mouth to speak but ends up breathless at the sight of the number of those monsters. At least a total of fifteen, minus the one that got caught by the bamboo tentacles and screeches desperately as it is being ripped apart, limb by limb.

Aya sighs, straightens up and closes her eyes, then sadly says "well guys, this is it."

Satori gulps, then says "no. Let's not give up just yet. Th-there's always some way out. Miss Aya!"

Kogasa whimpers and sobs, then manages to shakingly scream "somebody **help!** Please, anybody!"

"LOOK OUT!" shouts the tengu.

Alice's dolls move fast enough to give trouble even to the tengu's eyes, but instead of going straight at the girls she dolls dive and explode so violently the three live girls are sent flying back against the bamboo walls.

Kogasa falls on top of the group, and although crying she bravely stands and flashes the fetus monsters behind them, taking out two after only five bursts of light.

Aya and Satori look up at Kogasa's bravery and decide to take action.

"I'm sorry, I panicked," says the tengu, then she and her satori partner turn to face Alice, then the tengu says "even if we die, we will NOT go without a fight!"

The mind-reader nods, and she and the tengu split up to avoid another exploding doll and flash the puppeteer, making her screech, scream and stumble backward.

They follow up with more frequent flashes while getting closer to the zombie, then a human-sized doll with flaming hair and ghostly green eyes springs from underneath the ground and stabs both girls with her rusty pikes, pushes them back, then falls to pieces on the ground.

Kogasa cries out like a warrior after her confidence grows. Having taken out seven of the creatures already she knows she deserves as much.

"For Yamame! I will live on and you will die! I will CLEAN this land from all of you freaks!" declares the karakasa youkai, unaware of the bat-winged leader clinging on the highest point of the unnaturally tall bamboo.

It dives down after its fetus roars and tackles the girl on the chest long before she's even aware of its presence.

It roars furiously and summons more of its underlings to him to make up for the loss of their numbers, and a total of eight more that spring out of the bamboo clusters as though in wait for the call.

Kogasa and her wounded partners regroup, then Aya manages speak weakly "I think... this is really it."

Satori sniffles, convulses with a strong sob, then says "we trained hard, fought harder, and for nothing."

"Yeah, we did. I'm sorry Reimu, but it seems we really failed," sadly declares the tengu, and after a sob that seems like a cough she says "guess I'm not cut out to solve incidents of this magnitude after all."

The karakasa sniffles, watching as those disgusting monsters get closer to the group, then says "don't be sorry. I'm sure even Miss Reimu would have had a very hard time with this."

Alice hisses as she gets closer to the girls, her dolls spin around her faster and faster, making a large wheel of blue fire, then reaches for the tengu.

Aya smiles, resigned to her fate, then says "Satori, before I die I want to let you know, I'm sorry for hiding my being scratched and bitten. I was just so scared."

Satori gulps her tears before replying "Miss Aya, I am also sorry. I understand why you didn't tell me now. I got scratched too. Er, sorry I forgot to tell you before."

Kogasa chuckles, though her face is covered with her tears, and with her cracking voice she manages to say "that doesn't matter anymore. But... seeing as we're apologizing here, I want to apologize to Yamame. I failed her again and right after promising something so important just now.

All three girls smile, the tengu reporter drops the camera, the three girls press their backs against each other and hold hands, then all close their eyes.

* * *

><p>The monsters are in reach, Alice is eager to deal the killing cut and winds her hand, then something roars loudly, taking the attention of all the monsters and zombie puppeteer.<p>

White silk rapidly covers the girls until they are encased inside a large and thick cocoon, then the monstrous Yamame appears from above, lands between the monsters, then screeches defiantly at both Alice and disgusting creatures.

All snarl and roar back, and the monsters lunge straight toward the giant spider and the zombie puppeteer jumps back and summons eight more dolls to her side.

Using twelve dolls she now has two blue fire wheels spinning behind her back.

The giant spider roars as she effortlessly pushes the other monsters away and traps their torso with her web, then impales them with her spider legs after reeling them in, making them scream out in pain as their blood stains those rope-threads blackish-red.

Yamame does fine by herself, dwindling the monsters' numbers to just five, but forgetting about Alice costs her dearly.

The puppeteer wields those fire wheels with ease and raises them above her head after getting close to the spider.

By the time to giant monster realizes her mistake, her torso is being sawed off her abdomen in a most cruel and painful way imaginable.

The spider screams a deafening roar as her old skin is melted by the heat of the fire and her spine is being severed several times by sharp claws the dolls wield with expertise until it finally gives way.

After being cut in half Yamame cries out in pain, but as she falls she unleashes her own set of claws hidden on her fingers as harmless nails, and sticks both sets on the side of Alice's face.

Before falling off her massive black abdomen she pulls the zombie's skin with all her might and rips off the flesh, though being a zombie she doesn't bleed, but seems she feels the pain of having the skin of her face peeled off with sharp toxic claws.

Poison spews out of the severed part of the abdomen and drenches the agonizing zombie and fetus monsters, melting those horrid fetuses away while they all roar, while doing nothing to the undead spider.

Yamame finds Aya's camera and stares at it with her newly developed beastly red eyes, and using her claws she drags herself to it.

Immediately after grabbing it she turns on her back and flashes everything in the area.

Even when it burns her own skin she continues to flash until all the monsters near her screech.

She turns right and continues flashing until nothing reacts; she turns left and flashes Alice until she's sure those dolls are all on the ground, then stops.

She stares at the zombie and hisses at her when she doesn't fall.

That puppeteer is missing her face, has been flashed, blasted, poisoned, and stabbed, and she still doesn't fall.

She uncovers her horrific face, roars at the spider girl, then one more painful and powerful flash finally finishes the zombie off, and even after having fallen on her back, Alice raises a hand, roars "**MARISA! FAULT!**" then finally expires.

* * *

><p>After everything settles and quiets down, from inside the cocoon Aya whispers "what happened? Satori, what's going on?"<p>

The cocooned girls remain unaware that something outside slowly slithers toward their encasement.

The satori youkai sighs and says "I'm sorry but I can't pick up anything other than your thoughts. This silk doesn't let my ability through, it seems."

The creature outside is now next to the white prison, but stops moving when from within Kogasa calls "um, can someone help, please? We don't want to suffocate in here!"

The creature is Yamame's half, and she holds Aya's digital camera with her right hand while she drags her severed torso with her left.

She frowns and whimpers softly while looking at the cocoon, drags herself closer, then raises her claws and readies them.

From inside the tengu girl can see a silhouette and whispers "shh, shh, girls, look. Something's there."

All three yelp softly when the spider's yellow claws break through the sticky silk, but instead of going in further they slide down until the girls' faces are free from the cocoon.

Shocked, the girls remain lying inside the soft prison's safety and flinch when Yamame raises her head to look inside.

She stares at the girls as she breathes through her mouth, fighting the pain she feels, then locks her eyes on Kogasa after glancing at her a second time.

She slowly moves her clawed hand toward the karakasa's face and coos, but her old partner winces and whimpers.

The spider twitches and stops moving, wiggles her fingers and looks intently toward her claws, as though studying them closely, then coos and turns her hand around to touch the girl's left cheek.

Kogasa opens her eyes and gasps, and then she asks in surprise "Yamame? I-is that you?"

The blonde spider with the missing patch of skin on her head seems to smile, then nods.

The youkai gasps and quickly lifts up, to which Yamame pulls her hand away in fear of harming her friend.

The karakasa ghost wants to jump out and hug her partner out of excitement, but when she looks forward her smile turns to a pained frown that hurts her face.

"Yo-your... abdomen?" asks the girl before turning her head to the spider and asks "wh-what happened? Yamame-san, what happened to you?"

"Ko. ga. sa. Keeps. safe." says the spider with great difficulty, then cracks another smile.

"She's... friendly. Aya, she won't harm us. She's repeating the word 'friend' in her mind."

After hearing that from Satori, the tengu lifts up and looks around at all the defeated monsters and the rotten naked body of Alice several feet away.

"Did you do all this?" asks the tengu to the spider, who nods and sighs, then lets herself fall to the ground.

The girls exit the cocoon and Kogasa immediately goes to try and aid her friend, while the tengu and satori look around in amazement, then the mind-reader looks to the spider and exclaims "what? Yamame, why?"

The tengu watches as the spider lifts the camera and aims it at herself and asks "what is she doing?"

"She keeps repeating 'me-danger, me-danger. Stop myself.' She's going to sacrifice herself."

"NO!" cries the karakasa and attempts to take the camera away, but Yamame smacks her head with the back of her fist and knocks her partner out, then looks at the tengu with despair in her red eyes.

Aya lowers her head for a moment, bows her body slightly, then says "I understand. I'll do my best to protect her."

The spider smiles one more time, looks up at the held camera, Satori sniffles and looks away, and with no further hesitation Yamame Kurodani clicks that digital shutter and blasts herself with the intense flash, yelping once before ending up as another lifeless rotting corpse on the ground.

The satori youkai drops on her knees and tries to contain her sobs, but fails.

Aya lifts her head again after some time passes, revealing a stream of tears flowing down her cheeks and looks straight at the _dead_ spider.

Moments later, the trio find their way out of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and look onward to the road leading to the Human Village.

They pause for some time and watch as the sun starts to set behind the mountains and dread what awaits them that night.

After the long and silent pause the tengu reporter looks at her two partners and says "you know, I never thought I'd ever cry for the death of a fellow youkai."

She waits to see if there are any responses, but after receiving none she says "to us death really means nothing. We die and just revive after some time because of magic. But this..."

Satori and Kogasa turn to the tengu, who quickly continues "this is something far beyond what we're used to. Someone messes up, someone fixes the mess, and we all continue living on like nothing ever happened."

She shakes her head and smiles "but not this time. This time it's do or die for real."

"Aya," whispers Satori before the tengu smiles at them and says "come on girls. We cannot give up, not even if we're surrounded by fat blobs and eyeless squids! We have to fix this! Not for ourselves or our friends, but for all. I want my home back."

Both girls smile back at the tengu and nod, then Kogasa chuckles and says "that was so corny Miss Aya, but you can count on me. I'll go as far as I can to help you guys out, because I too want my home back."

Satori chuckles and nods, words being unneeded to tell what she means, then the party of three make their way to the village, expecting to find the worst, yet hoping for the best.

As they make their way, the crow tengu thinks "_for the first time in my long life I am afraid of death. But being an immortal zombie seems to be far worst._"

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

JUL 17 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Man, I took long enough to write this, but I'm sure it was worth it. This chapter took ME by surprise. I wasn't going to add Kogasa or Yamame (not like this anyway), but I think I managed that pretty well, and their addition brought more emotion to the story. Yup, I like that. It's good. Still, I hope I can kick it up a notch or two and start posting again like I used to. I blame PS3 for that, but PS3 is good. Yes it is. Anyway, thanks for reading this far and hope you enjoyed the long, long read.**


	4. Undying Village Pt1

_Day, who the hell cares anymore, on the road to the Human Village._

_Mental notes by me, Aya Shameimaru, age... I don't know what's going on with me. After finding Kogasa at the Forest of Magic everything went even deeper into the depths of hell. I mean look at me. I don't want to be cheerful anymore; I don't care if we find any more survivors. All I want is to get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, find that damned cauldron and spill that shit so my life; **our** lives can go back to normal. We were forced into going to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, fought one really insane rabbit ghoul-zombie thing named Tewi; she was always annoying while alive to begin with; a giant Reisen with a mind of mush, then I had to watch Yamame, who turned into a monster before our very eyes long before we went into Eientei, sacrifice herself to save Kogasa, and us, I guess. Oh, I read that piece of paper Satori found at the laboratory. I always knew that Lunarian bitch was already insane, but I never thought she'd go as far as to mutate her own underlings. Satori keeps saying we can't be sure of that, but right now I fail to see it in any other light._

_You know, now that I really think about it I wonder. Tewi said some things that got me thinking, and I have to wonder if what we are doing is the right thing? Should we just give up and let ourselves get turned into zombies too? The rabbit sounded happy, but maybe it was her insanity. Argh! I just don't know anymore! And there goes Satori. She's walking beside me and she's giving me that "are you alright?" look. Now I'm feeling guilty of thinking such things! No, she can't read my thoughts. Somehow I learned to block my own mind while thinking, though it's not perfect. She might have caught a glimpse there. Whatever, it's not like it'll change anything anymore. Oh, did I mention it's already dark? Yeah, it's freaking night already. At the moment we've only faced a few zombie fairies, but it's night. FREAKING NIGHT! We need to find shelter, but something tells me; something deep within my heart screams at me that we will find no shelter at the village. I've already argued this point with Satori and Kogasa, and bad blood started boiling between the Hell Princess and myself; and the umbrella girl, so sweet she's making me sick, didn't really add anything to the conversation. Just like our last argument, she just wanted us to patch things up, to **be partners again. Because she and Yamame were such good partners, and that Satori and I should be too.** Seriously, where did that girl come from? Where does she think we are? It's do or die and she's crying over a little scratch between girls like that. Deep breaths Aya, deep breaths. We're almost at the village, and who knows what kind of damned freaks we'll find. There's going to be no Yamame to save our asses again, and honestly, I think that's for the best. Watching her do that... felt so wrong. I cried. I cried like some sort of emotional human! Ugh, I can't wait to write all this down. Actually I'll do just that. Right here in my notepad. These might be the last words I'll ever write in here, so I might as well add a few more things in case one of these zombies grows a brain and learns to read, or maybe that bitch Marisa will find it and read it. Feel sorry for me you piece of shit! This is all your fault!_

The enraged tengu breathes through her mouth, venting rage through her teeth as she snatches her own notepad out the back of her stained shirt and starts writing her thoughts furiously.

Satori and Kogasa both keep to Aya's side and glance at her as she scribbles down each letter, but unlike the karakasa, the satori maiden is aware of the tengu's fall into despair.

"_Maybe it's because she got scratched? No..." _thinks the mind-reader as she looks to the road again.

"_No, she's just mentally exhausted. If things keep going as they are, I might have to fight with her. I honestly hope that's not the case. I'm a little angry at her, true, but I don't want to fight her. Not now. Come on Miss Shameimaru. Hold on! There has to be something you can hold on to!"_

Having read the last five sentences thought by her tengu partner unsettles the satori youkai, and for good reasons.

Even if she's just writing down a few words, that face she's making reminds her of Marisa's own expression after looking into the mirror.

It seems even Kogasa can tell something is very wrong, but none speak of it and continue on their way to the Human Village, hoping they might find a quicker way to the vampire's mansion from there.

* * *

><p>The moon has started to creep its way over the mountains from behind the sparking clouds that remain in the sky, evident because of the silvery light trying to shine through the clouds.<p>

These clouds have slowly covered the entirety of Gensokyo, and now are working their way to make sure not even the slightest bit of sky can be seen over the mountains.

"Those clouds," says Kogasa to break the maddening silence in the group, and when the girls look to her she continues "Yamame and I tried getting close and spreading them apart, but they attacked us."

The tengu girl raises an eyebrow and stares in disbelief, and then the turquoise girl continues "they shot these lightning bolts at us, and shortly after that, Reimu... Um, the point is, that's what I wanted to tell this to you guys before. I think those clouds are actually smart."

"Sentient clouds?" asks the mind-reader with a doubtful tone, but after looking into the girl's mind she can see her and the blonde spider being shot down by the clouds' bolts.

She looks to Aya with an acknowledging glance and nods once, then the tengu angrily says "oh great. Now the clouds are after us too. Not that it matters, seeing as we can't get close to the shits."

Before she continues, the satori worriedly says "Miss Aya, please calm down. I know it seems hard, but-"

"Seems? **SEEMS?** It's exceedingly hard, Satori! It is an insane nightmare! Everyone in Gensokyo is after our asses to **eat** them, not love, spank, kick, danmaku, or magically spark them!" shouts the tengu before her partner can say more.

The mind-reader glares at the reporter, and by the looks of things it is only a matter of a mere spark and these two girls will start aiming bullets at each others' throats.

The turquoise haired karakasa hurriedly looks around for a distraction; a zombie fairy, a horde of monsters, maybe even Reimu, and after failing to find anything she whimpers a desperate sigh.

A light weight takes her left shoulder so she raises her head and looks upon the pained smile in the satori's face, the instantly smiles back, causing genuine smiles to brighten their spirits.

"Don't despair Miss Kogasa. We'll get through this. We just need to find a place to rest and-"

While the satori comforts the karakasa, Aya groans inward, smashes her hand on her own face, and as she rolls it down, pretending to claw herself, she thinks "_this is hopeless and they still want to look at the brighter picture..._"

However, after thinking that, she turns her head just slightly to look at the purple-haired girl and while sighing she says to herself "but maybe I should be like that as well."

"What's that?" exclaims the karakasa ghost after pointing toward a fire in the distance that is set close to the entrance to the village.

The tengu's face is taken by a smile as she gasps with elation and exclaims "FIRE! Someone's alive down there! Come on, let's check it out!"

Even the satori maiden's smile widens when the thought of someone being alive crosses her mind as well, and after all three girls look at each other they silently agree and speed their walking to reach that fire as fast as they can without having to needlessly run. They want to save that, in case it is needed for later.

Their speed-walk towards the fire is uneventful, but the closer they keep getting, the worst they feel about the whole thing.

"M-maybe we should turn back," whispers Aya, but a voice catches their attention; a voice coming from the center of the dancing light.

"Shh, listen. There's someone there," whispers Satori, who gestures the girls to follow her as silently as possible.

They come across a rather large clearing, prepared to look like a piece of the Bamboo Forest, with several dried bamboo shoots stuck on the ground, making a wall against the Human Village, while the rest is surrounded by the natural trees and several bushes that usually grow in the area.

Inside the parameter are several jagged white and black rocks, all stained with blood and bits of rotting skin.

On the rocks themselves either sit unmoving rotting bodies of zombie humans or fairies, or lie human skulls oozing with some black substance from their eyes, noses, and those with large cracks reveal something fleshy still inside of them, rotting away with the slow flow of time.

The ground just before the fire has been carpeted with coal, so whomever prepared this is definitely not thinking about safety.

At the very center of this oddly prepared campsite is the fire itself, burning proudly, showing the beauty and power of the flames as they dance on top of the crackling pieces of wood and coal lumps, and Mokou Fujiwara, seems to be tending the flames with great care.

As she curls up next to the fire and looks into the flames, as though in a trance, her light-violet hair sways with the bit of wind blowing this night, dancing along with the orangey flames.

From the looks of things she appears to be just fine. No visible mutations, her eyes look normal with actual red iris, as they always have been, her clothes look clean, and aside from being in a trance she seems perfectly fine.

Before the tengu reporter or karakasa ghost have the chance to even think of approaching the already immortal girl, their friendly satori grabs both their shoulders and pulls them back, then whispers "wait. I'm not picking any thoughts from her, and there's something wrong about all of this."

"What are you talking about?" asks the tengu, to which the satori points and whispers "look at her eyes."

Empty. Devoid of any light, life, or thoughts.

For all they know that girl may have died in that position just now, but soon learn how wrong they are when the immortal lifts her right hand from underneath her left forearm tucked around her stomach.

It's bony and only has a thin layer of dried brown flesh covering it, bits of the dried skin fall into the fire when she moves her fingers, making a disturbing crack with the knuckles, then she straightens up a bit.

Her abdomen has been destroyed, probably bitten off by something large, her guts seem to be there, but are drenched in so much blood they seem to be missing, and of course her shirt on front has been completely destroyed.

The girls also notice fountain of fresh blood suddenly flying out of the girl's right knee and thigh when she moves, and notice her feet are just a bony and skinless mess hidden inside red shoes and drenched with freshly flowing blood that might come from her knees.

She places her skeletal hand inside the fire and smiles, chuckles in a disturbing manner, and as dark blood oozes out of her mouth she mutter incoherently under her breath.

Her eyes expand and both iris contract as her smile becomes more maniacal, then she pulls her hand back from the fire and gurgles "it's not fighting back. He's finally dancing along. I'm not alone, not alone, not alone, not alone~!"

The fire sizzles as the blood from her mouth splatters inside the flames while she shouts "**it's not the time, you fool!** She's going to get angry! Heheh, but it's alright. Mokou still loves you... you foolish BASTARD," and it is by this time that the party decides they have seen enough.

The girls don't need to speak to know they must move quietly, and so they make their way back to the road to the village after glancing at each other.

As they move away they can see Mokou point at the decapitated body of a female zombie human and shout "that bitch Kaguya! Keine, ram her with your horns," then pick one of the human skulls from the ground near her and toss it over the decaying body.

The girls are almost clear, and already are reaching a point where the insane girl can no longer see them, and that's when something cracks and the light-violet-haired girl screams as though she's just been skewered with a javelin through the heart.

"GAAAAAAHHH! KEINE! KEINE IS DEAD," screams the crazed girl, shooting fireballs to the sky in a rage.

"Run," whispers Aya, then a massive wall of fire rises from the ground and stops the girls' advance, and even before they can wonder what that sudden gust was, Mokou appears in front of them, bleeding through her mouth, eyes and ears.

"**You killed Keine! They killed Keine. Keine, we must avenge you! **I can't see them! I can't see them but I know they are there! YOU ARE THERE!" shouts the insane immortal while pointing to the sky.

A cold chill takes the girls when they feel the cold hands of death reaching out to them, but it's the tengu reporter that puts on a brave face, pulls her digital camera out of her pocket, and furiously commands "we flash her until she's down! Like HELL I'm letting this psycho bitch take my life!"

* * *

><p>Mokou prepares a couple of flames on each hand, Aya raises her camera, Satori readies her third eye, and Kogasa positions her umbrella.<p>

The three girls flash the flaming girl in front of them and make her scream to the sky, but stop when instead of the usual roar, rage scream or curses, they hear sobs and screams of mercy.

"What the heck? Girls, is she-" but before the satori can finish her question her eyes adjust to the darkness again and exclaims "she IS crying!"

The girls watch as Mokou lies in a fetal position on the ground, sobbing and shivering like a frightened child.

Pity takes the karakasa and satori youkai, but not the tengu.

"Don't fall for that," says Aya with a stern face and frighteningly cold tone of voice.

"She's going to jump at us and try to gut us, maim us, or who knows that else! Let's kill her now that we have the chance."

"Miss Aya-san!" exclaims the surprised karakasa, who watches with dread as the tengu lifts her camera and takes aim.

Satori also watches with dread, but she knows that her partner says is true, and taking pity on this pathetic sight might cost them dearly.

"Mommy? Where are you? Mama! I want my mama," cries that once-proud wielder of the phoenix flames.

"Wait, Aya hold on," calls Satori, but the tengu is not listening.

Kogasa joins the mind-reader and tries calling for the reporter's attention, but she's locked inside her own resolve and mercilessly takes the picture.

A powerful thud accompanies a massive dust cloud that blocks the powerful flash, and looking toward the cloud the tengu furiously exclaims "I knew it! Dammit, now we're in for it!"

"Quickly, over here," calls the karakasa, and the tengu quickly complies and regroups with the girls behind the eggplant-colored umbrella and a single thin bush.

From behind the cloud of dust comes a rather annoying laugh and an odd attempt for an elegant voice that says "o-ho-ho-ho! Mokotan my dear, what **have** you been doing sweetie? You've been mingling with the commoners again! Bad Mokotan!"

Even Satori's skin gets filled with goose bumps after hearing such a horrible symphony of words, then, regardless of feeling disgusted, the tengu reporter furiously asks "who the hell is there now? Are you alive lady?"

The dust cloud dissipates and reveals how Mokou hugs the knees of Kaguya Houraisan.

Unlike her eternal adversary, the moon princess' entire skin is brown, shriveled and dried, her hair looks greyish and seems to be falling one strand at a time, her clothes are tattered and broken almost everywhere and stained with blotches of blood, her eyes, though still possessing the natural red iris, look empty and bulgy, surrounded by black skin that's sucked into the eye socket, and her nose seems to have fallen off, revealing a bloodied skeletal pair of holes on her face.

She has smeared her face with a mess of green on her left cheek, yellow on the right side of her face, light-blue around her right eye, and seems she found a red lip-stick and drew a mess of lines all over her face and ears.

Her kimono is a mess of blood stains on pink fabric and holes that show her decaying skin underneath, showing even bits of her ribcage through two holes on her skin, and her burgundy skirt is broken at the back, showing her bloodstained underwear that is impossible to discern what color it was before.

She carries the head of a small brunette zombie girl, possibly a fairy, and has a set of guts tied together around her right shoulder that look like a makeshift purse.

The black-haired tengu is appalled by the sight and growls as she lifts up to attack, but the satori youkai grabs her by her left sleeve, pulls her back down, and whispers "shh, shh, wait. She hasn't noticed us."

Understandably worried, Kogasa whimpers "u-um, sh-should we move?"

The purple-haired girl lets out a whimpering sigh and says "I don't know," while shaking her head, then adds "l-let's stay here and hope they leave!"

Aya isn't buying into that and Satori knows this, but can only watch as her partner snarls and fights with her desire to just kill the monsters in front on her own, or the confusion of whether or not to follow her frightened partners' plan and just wait.

Meanwhile, Mokou hugs Kaguya's knees and repeats "mama loves me-mama loves me!"

The zombie moon princess chuckles sickeningly before saying "well dear Moko-Mokou, you have been a good girl. Sensei will give you another bed night for that."

The zombie girls stare at each other, then Mokou jumps and rips the princess' left arm along with its sleeve, letting the makeshift purse drop on the ground and spill a disgusting-smelling yellow fluid, then peels the sleeve off and starts gnawing on that arm as though eating a chicken drumstick.

The zombie Lunarian laughs sickeningly irritating again, then says "my oh my, Mokou liked the gift I sent her. Now it's time to ask the food for the jewel."

A new arm grows from the Lunarian's bleeding shoulder and she winces, drops the severed head, holds the new arm by the shoulder, then starts screaming "not again! The pain is back! Eirin, get the rabbit legs! EIRIN!"

The arm looks normal but a second after its re-grown the veins swell up and quickly burst, spraying blood all over Kaguya's shirt, face and on Mokou's hair, but the fire-wielder's attention is on the arm she's nibbling on and doesn't even seem to notice Kaguya's screaming.

The zombie princess drops on her knees and starts laughing, even though she cries bloodied tears that smudges the messy makeup on her face, then everything stops when that arm becomes a brown pruned limb with fresh blood oozing around it.

Aya shivers as her fear takes over her face, yet she snarls as though furious while thinking "_what the hell is going on? She's going to attack us, isn't she? Wait, Aya, don't move! They haven't seen you, and if you move you'll get Satori and Kogasa in danger! NO! Flash them! Flash them both now that you have the chance! Screw those two chickens! FIGHT!_"

She looks to her two partners and can see tears of fear flowing down their cheeks, and now notices the satori is tugging the sleeve of her shirt, whimpering pathetically as she begs the tengu to stay put with a terrified look from her eyes.

The reporter gulps, turns her sight away from the girls, then risks to peek through the umbrella's side once more.

There is Mokou, kneeling on the ground like a dog and eating that decaying severed arm like a savage, and to her immediate left is Kaguya and her blood-stained self on all fours, panting hard as the pain from her arm subsides.

She stops panting, her lips stretch to make the most disturbing and vile smile possible, making her disgusting makeup contort along with her pruned facial features, and she glances vilely over to Mokou.

That new zombie hand lifts to the air and immediately pierces through the fire-wielder's back so fast that Aya thinks she blinked for a moment, but her rapid-beating heart tells her she didn't, that what she saw was real, and knows it's going to be a lot of trouble for them.

Mokou continues eating away at the arm and acts as though nothing has happened to her, so Kaguya purrs, pulls her hand back out, and slides an abnormally large bloodstained claw she has just revealed and slides it down the lilac-haired girls back.

She cuts the back of the shirt and makes a straight bloody line on Mokou's back, then hisses after opening her mouth, revealing a nasty set of jagged teeth and large and pointy fangs, then takes a bite off her eternal rival's back.

The fire wielding immortal's skin looks unchanged, but even so, having a part of your flesh bitten off should hurt, and yet she remains nibbling on that severed arm, acting as though nothing is happening to her at all.

The tengu quickly hides behind the umbrella when she thinks the Lunarian saw her and thinks "_she ate her! Satori, she's eating Mokou!_"

The satori youkai is frightened after having seen what Aya saw, then nods and whispers "w-we need to get out of here. W-we have to move, but how!?"

The tengu punches the ground with her right fist and whispers "we flash them like I said from the start! You two... Ugh! If we had just attacked when I told you so we would have-"

"Please no more," whimpers Kogasa, then sternly says "stop attacking us Miss Aya. We are your friends!"

The tengu growls inward, then sighs to fake calmness and stiffly says "I'm not attacking you, I'm just stating a- Gah! Whatever, let's flash them now! ATTACK!"

After the tengu's command the karakasa flashes as brightly as she can, the satori jumps out of hiding and aims her flash at Kaguya, and the tengu rolls to the right and flashes toward Mokou in hopes of flashing both girls directly at once.

"What the-"

The mind-reader's surprise expression comes with gasps and gulps from her partners as they stare in confusion.

There is a bloody mess on the ground where the two zombie girls were, but no girls.

They are suddenly greeted by the sound of the bleeding fire-wielder as she flies toward the village and screams "**Keine is here! She is not dead! You have Keine and will bring her coffee and tea! MAMA KEINE SENSEI I LOVE!**"

The girls stare dumbstruck at the fleeing zombie girl until Satori asks "hey, girls? Where is the other one?"

A blast of pure energy sends the tengu flying toward the karakasa ghost and forcefully smash heads, then stand up to gaze upon the horrifying sight of Kaguya Houraisan overflowing with energy as she hovers eight feet above them, smiling vilely and hissing as both fresh and coagulated blood spills out of her open mouth through her jagged teeth.

* * *

><p>Aya jumps to the right and leaves Kogasa to take on a tackle from Kaguya, then swiftly turns and flashes the zombie girl three times, forcing her to roar in pain and retreat.<p>

"Ow-how-ow! Aya-san, that was mean," cries the karakasa spread on the ground.

Satori rushes to inspect the karakasa ghost for any wounds, sighs with relief when she finds none, then glares at the tengu and angrily barks "don't use her as bait!"

Genuinely frightened, the tengu reporter shakingly nods and says "s-sorry, I thought she'd-" but she can't finish her sentence as Kaguya takes the trio's attention with a gurgled wail.

She raises her hands, concentrates her energy around them, and in an instant she fills the sky with hundreds of multi-colored bullets.

The tengu turns her fright into rage and takes her fan, swings it with her left hand, and generates several strong but small tornadoes and her own bullet waves to counter Kaguya's.

"Jump on my shoulders and FLASH the bitch," shouts the tengu at her partners after her own bullets and tornadoes clear a path through zombie Kaguya's own bullet shower.

Both girls look a little uneasy, firstly because Satori isn't really that athletic, and secondly because Kogasa is just plain frightened of getting too close the zombie princess.

Aya snarls, uses every ounce of strength in her and jumps at her partners, then shouts "BOOST!"

Quickly picking up on the reporter's thoughts, Satori gestures Kogasa to cup her hands together below her knees, to which the karakasa mimics the satori, and just in time.

The tengu lands on her friends' hands and both girls use their youkai strength in unison to send that grounded bird flying high.

The zombie Lunarian smiles and says "chicken dinner! Better than rabbit," and aims her hand at the tengu.

The black-haired reporter sees an attack coming, and the charm the zombie Reimu put on her is starting to pull her back down, but she's too close to quit.

She flashes the zombie, and while Kaguya roars and covers her face the tengu takes her fan, swings it toward the ground and pushes herself upward, and as she flies over the zombie princess she swings her leg and flip-kicks the back of the monster's head.

What happens next shocks all three girls and momentarily paralyzes their thoughts.

The second the tengu's geta sandal makes contact with the zombie's skull, the princess' head bursts and spreads a vile smelling and looking, sickly rotting fleshy substance that clings on to the reporter's leg.

The kick sends zombie Kaguya face-down to the ground, but the tengu screams out in pain while she holds on to her leg when the rotting, fleshy substance sizzles as it eats her leg away.

Aya falls on her back, screaming in agonizing pain as her leg disappears, and now that disgusting substance is making its way up her thigh.

Satori is the first to reach the tengu and immediately flashes the substance, turning it into a vile-smelling mist that could only compare to the smell of a hundred rotting youkai bodies.

She bends to kneel next to the reporter, but said tengu shouts "FLASH HER! J-JUST FLASH-AAAAARGH!"

Both karakasa and satori youkai look at each other, then at the tengu, then at the Lunarian princess who is already pushing herself up, spilling rotten blood balls from her open head.

"Let's do it!" exclaims the satori, to which Kogasa nods and shouts "full power!"

They run to the zombie but keep a safe distance away, aim their flashing weapons straight at her face, then both use far more power than needed to flash Kaguya in unison.

The zombie Lunarian shrieks for a second before her body thuds after hitting the ground, and just as the girls are going to congratulate each other, they hear various other roars and shrieks, followed by many more thuds in the distance.

"Um, I think we overdid it," sheepishly says the karakasa while trying to smile naturally.

"I believe it's best this way," calmly replies the satori maiden, then both girls turn their head when the tengu girl groans.

They rush to Aya's side and Satori immediately rummages through her backpack for bandages, while Kogasa kneels beside the girl, places a gentle hand on her sweating forehead, and softly says "it's alright, we're here. The zombie is gone."

The tengu shivers, her face turns pale, she chokes and stutters when she tries to speak, then the satori sadly says "i-it entered her bloodstream. *Gulp* The pain is driving her mad. Sh-she's asking us to..."

The images of Yamame begging to be killed burn freshly in the satori's mind.

She repeats the scene over and over, and with her cracked voice she says "she's asking us to kill her."

The tengu chokes, her eyes become bloodshot, the wound on her leg keeps bleeding, then she finally manages to croak "do it! Please!"

The karakasa's face turns sternly stiff, her eyes fill with fury, something in her heart burns.

She grabs the black-haired girl by the neck and squeezes hard while angrily saying "you won't die! Not today! I won't let you!"

The satori has finished applying the bandages and creating a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, then shakingly says "h-hold on Aya! Hold on! I-it's going to take some time, but you'll grow a new leg, you'll see."

She looks at Kogasa and notices what the girl is doing to the tengu and exclaims "no! Don't do that! Th-there's no need to kill her! The pain is sub-"

"I'm just putting her to sleep for a bit! I'm sorry, but knocking her out is not my style," replies the karakasa, then slowly retreats her hand from the reporter's neck, allowing the girl to settle down and close her eyes, to fall to sleep.

Aya starts snoring softly, whimpers when her leg bleeds out the last bits of the fleshy substance that was eating her from within, then Satori flashes those bits with a look of deep hatred in her eyes.

As the pieces sizzle she looks at Kogasa and softly grumbles "I don't know why she's so resistant to that zombie poison."

The karakasa grabs the purple-haired girl and wraps her arms around the girls' ribs, then whimpers "just be grateful. She won't turn into those things, and after her leg grows back we can just continue, and everything will be fine."

The satori youkai returns the hug on impulse, then shortly after she feels very relaxed.

Her consciousness starts fading, but she can still feel as the karakasa's embrace weakens and with great effort manages to think "_what. is going. on? Th-that. that smell is-_"

Both girls fall to the ground adjacent to each other, and just as the satori youkai is about to lose all senses, she can hear rustling of grass and dirt to her left, and manages to see a shadow looming over the zombie princess' body.

* * *

><p>It's still night when Satori opens her eyes and springs off the ground with a gasp and flashing her surroundings.<p>

Calming down, she looks around and whispers to herself "wait, what? Nothing."

To her surprise there aren't any zombies, monsters or abominations surrounding them, and to her great relief both Kogasa and Aya moan as they start to wake up.

She also notice a sheet of blue paper lying between herself and the tengu's feet, and as she picks the sheet from the ground she gasps at the realization.

The tengu's leg has grown back, and the sandal they all thought was lost is placed on the re-grown foot with a small black stain on the sole on front, though the long black sock is now gone.

"Mmm, what happened?" asks the karakasa, holding the side of her head and shaking it around to rid herself of her grogginess.

"Uh, man, what happened to me? H-hey," wonders the tengu after waking up, then quickly realizes she's no longer in pain, then moves her feet around to test them, and smiles as she exclaims "my leg! My leg is back! I don't hurt! It doesn't hurt!"

She looks excitedly at the karakasa as she sits on her knees, at the satori who keeps reading that blue piece of paper, then sits on her own knees and angrily says "well, glad to see you care."

That's when she notices the spot where zombie Kaguya should be, but she's not.

The bloodstain is there, the pieces of sizzled smelly flesh are there, but the Lunarian is not, and to this the reporter jumps on her feet, points toward the stained spot and exclaims "WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?"

Kogasa jumps on her feet and readies her umbrella, glaring around their surrounding area for any signs of movement, then Aya presses her back against the karakasa, glancing furiously around and raising her camera.

"That won't be necessary," calmly says Satori while showing them the letter from her hand.

"But that doesn't mean we should just stay here. Come on."

She signals the two girls to follow her through the bit of road left to reach the village's gate, and somehow relaxing, the tengu and karakasa look at each other before lowering their weapons and walking toward the mind-reader.

"So, er, what's that? Did someone finish that zombie bitch for us?" asks the tengu when reaching the satori.

Said girl just stares at her partner as though having seen her for the first time in a long time, then hands the letter over.

Shameimaru takes the letter and walking down the road she reads out loud "The tengu will be just fine. I have secured the zombie. Do not linger here. A friend."

"A friend?" asks the tengu with a doubtful tone.

She shows the note to the karakasa, asking "do you have any idea-?" but quickly notices the stern look on the girl's face and asks "um, hey, are you alright?"

The youkai's face turns bitter, she looks away from the tengu, sniffles, then coldly says "I'm sorry. That was supposed to be me, not you Miss Aya."

The satori and tengu stop to look at the karakasa, who lowers her umbrella over her face to hide her shame and says "you asked me for help, but I was too scared to do anything, then you almost lost your leg and got hurt and... I'm so sorry!"

"It's ok, I'm-"

"NO! It's NOT ok!" shouts Kogasa, cutting Aya off, then continues "it's just like with Yamame! As long as I was safe by her side I could help, but when she really needed me I froze!"

"It's alright," softly says Satori. "She never blamed you for anything. She even came to your rescue one last time, before-"

"NOT ANYMORE!" interrupts the karakasa. "I won't freeze again, for your sake and Yamame's memory! I will be strong from now on!"

Then she thrusts her umbrella forward between her two partners and flashes toward the village's gate.

The girls turn around and express their confusion, but the question inside their minds is answered immediately.

Five poodle-sized brown spiders with sharp mouths on their abdomens, sharp-looking ivory legs, and eight red eyes drop on their backs as their small web is revealed to the girls' eyes.

"Hmph! Not gonna fall for that again," declares the karakasa ghost while staring sternly at the web wall.

"So, how are we going to get in there now?" asks the tengu, and right before their eyes the answer comes.

The webs slowly disintegrate as the spiders' bodies melt into the ground, turning to sickening brown puddles of ooze, save for the body of one blackish spider.

The karakasa bravely steps forward, pushing the girls behind herself as she aims her umbrella's eye at the creature, then flashes it mercilessly.

The small creature contorts its legs and clacks its teeth, spitting out green blood from its mouth, and after the sixth flash is stretches its legs and bends it abdomen upward.

As it becomes a black ooze puddle, the sharp mouth on the abdomen opens up and the creature screeches so loud the floor around the trio vibrates.

Covering her ears the satori maiden shouts "**this is bad! It's alerting everyone of our presence!**"

Shouting to be heard over the incessant screech, the tengu demands "**dammit, someone stop it!**"

"**Kogasa, don't touch it,**" shouts the reporter just before the karakasa stomps the spider with her foot and successfully stopping her from doing so.

The creature finally melts and its screech becomes a mute gurgle, then they all sigh.

From within and around the outskirts of the village moans, groans and roars alert the girls of their failure in stealth.

The atmosphere grows quiet once more, then Aya whispers "d-did you guys h-hear all that, or w-was it just me?"

Her two frightened partners both shake their heads and nod, and before anyone can say the next word, from deep within the village a girl screams "**BIIIIIIIIIITCH~!**"

"What was **THAT**?" exclaims the unsettled karakasa, to which the mind-reader shakingly replies "I don't know."

The tengu reporter, on the other hand, knows that voice and starts hyperventilating, her eyes turn blank, her already pale skin turns paler, and after a big gulp she grabs her friends by the arms and pulls them toward the nearest house after crossing the gate.

Both Kogasa and Satori demand an explanation that never comes while Aya kicks the door open and inspects the inside of the one-room house for any zombies.

She closes the door again, presses her back against it, then breathes fast through her mouth as she turns her horrified eyes to both her partners.

"Miss Aya, what is going on? Why are you so frightened?" worriedly asks the karakasa.

The tengu breathes erratically through her mouth as her body shakes violently enough to knock her on her butt, and while looking up at her two partners she says "i-it's her. I-I-I-It's HER!"

* * *

><p>The satori maiden can't help but read the unsettled crow tengu's mind, then gasps.<p>

"What? What is it?" furiously demands the karakasa ghost.

Satori places her hand on the girl's mouth while Aya desperately shushes her.

"_What the hell is going on? I have the right to know,_" angrily thinks Kogasa.

The mind-reader nods once, slowly removes her hand from the girl's mouth, and then softly says "Aya's rival. Hatate. That's the voice we heard. And it seems our friend here was not ready to face this."

"Sh-she died because of me! I did that to her! She-she would be alive if I hadn't-"

A sudden embrace from both her partners quickly calms the black-haired girl's nerves, and she instinctively wraps one arm around each girl in thanks.

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUU! BIIIIIIIITCH!**" screams the zombie tengu, her voice coming from very close by.

Aya grips her two partners tight when her nerves take the best of her again, and although the girls choke and cough demands to be released, the reporter tengu is far too unsettled to even notice she's crushing the girls.

Her shivering becomes violent when she hears thumps on the ground getting closer to their location, and now the shivering and trembling becomes so violent the karakasa and satori slide off the tengu's grip and the door behind the girl rattles strongly.

"Move!" demands the recovered satori maiden, then she and the turquoise girl grab the crow girl by each arm and pull her away from the door when they hear the thumps getting closer to the house.

"Shameimaruuu," hisses zombie Hatate when she's right next to the door, then the terrified girls all gulp when they hear that zombie girl sniffing around.

"Sh-she can smell us?" whimpers Kogasa, but her answer doesn't come.

Satori chokes on her own throat when the sliding door to the house slowly opens, then she spots a small window to their right, covered by an open folding wall and pulls herself and the girls toward it.

They pull the folding wall away from the window to cover them while they escape, then Kogasa is the first one to squeeze through to safety while the thumping footsteps of the zombie tengu enter the house.

She gets stuck momentarily when her breast get caught in the window's tight frame, but she manages to push herself through, then slithers her hips to prevent getting caught a second time.

Second to be squeezed through the window is Aya, and she first gets stuck when her breasts get caught on the window's frame as well, yet she pushes herself through with the adrenaline rush and whimpers when her ample pearls are painfully squeezed through the frame, losing the lower button from her shirt.

Now her hips get caught and the thumping footsteps start heading in the girls' direction.

The tengu girl squeezes through with all her might and Satori promptly follows, getting stuck on her hips, but the adrenaline pushes her to squeeze through, losing a bit of fabric from the back of her skirt after doing so.

Both tengu and karakasa hold their chests as the pain on their breasts throb mercilessly, and then the tengu grunts "jeez, men don't know how lucky they are to not have these things on them!"

"Yeah. Seriously, this is going to hurt all night," grunts the karakasa while looking at the mind-reader.

The purple-haired girl mimics her partners by holding her chest the same way, then gulps and says "um, yeah. Lucky. W-we better move!"

Both karakasa and tengu grin mischievously at each other, then turn those grins toward the satori maiden, who asks "wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that?"

They know she can read their thoughts and how they both mentally mock her for having small breasts in comparison, this becoming more evident when a large vein pulsates on the satori's forehead while she growls.

A loud thump is followed by a vicious crack and several clattering noises from within the house, then "**BIIIIIIIIITCH!**" the raging voice of zombie Hatate snaps the girls from their short mocking time, and remembering her cold fright and forgetting the throbbing pain on her chest, the tengu grabs the two girls by the arms and runs further into the village.

"**SHAMEIMARUUUU,**" screams the zombie tengu, and now the girls all moan with fright when the house they were just in turns to dust, and now the thumping footsteps of Hatate move rapidly toward them.

"Into the next one," commands the tengu reporter when they see the next building, a much larger two-story house in front of them, to witch her partners agree and speed up their efforts.

A pinkish-purple blur drops in front of them and lifts a curtain of smoke, stopping the girl's progress completely, and when Kogasa turns around she is the first to notice they are all surrounded by countless human zombies.

They all stand in place and just stare at the girls, some missing their eyes, some missing their clothes and large patches of skin, yet they all seem to be oozing a black substance from within their bodies, be it through a wound, or an orifice.

One of the female zombies moans and spits a chunk of that black ooze, then several others follow her example and do the same.

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUU!**"

Aya, Satori and Kogasa turn away from the horrific sight of the human zombies to look upon the horror of zombie Hatate Himekaidou.

The left side of her head has a whole patch of hair missing from a rotting patch from where there once was an open wound, her right eye dangles next to her lips while her left seems to be dried inside its socket, both missing the iris and giving the zombie a more disturbing appearance.

The eye sockets themselves seem to glow dimly red, giving the already horrendous zombie a terrifying air about her, and her bluish-black rotting skin isn't helping the matter.

Where her left breast and black bra should be is now a large opening that shows half of what is left of the black bra, and part of her still-beating yet rotten heart can be seen though a hole on her broken ribs, and what usually was a pleasurable sight is now a hideous reminder of a mistake made.

Several parts of her head and torso are riddled with bite marks, her shirt is stained with old dried blood on the front and sides, and her limbs, though undamaged, look cold and blue where there is still rotting skin covering her dried muscles.

She lifts her right hand and points at Aya, and then roars "**BIIIITCH!**"

The living tengu and her friends now find themselves trapped and outnumbered in yet another battle for their lives, with one dangerous-looking zombie tengu leading the attack.

* * *

><p>Zombie Hatate raises her hand and grows a nasty set of yellowish-black claws, then hisses straight at her former tengu comrade.<p>

"Hatate, I'm sorry! It was an accident!" cries Aya in an attempt to settle her own heart, but this fails, the evidence of such coming from a stream of tears that quickly roll down her cheeks.

Meanwhile Kogasa and Satori have taken the task of downing some of the human zombies that decided to get too close, and though they are slow, they are a little more resistant than the zombie fairies.

The karakasa turns her head toward her tengu partner and gasps "Miss Aya-san!"

Aya Shameimaru stands frozen with her camera on hand, but unable to flash the one she killed.

And how can she; knowing that if she hadn't delivered that last kick this girl in front of her might have survived along with her.

"_But if I hadn't done that then maybe we both might be dead,_" thinks the short-haired tengu in an attempt to feel better; to move her body and defend herself, yet she remains as she was.

The zombie tengu lifts her right hand and swings it rapidly at the frozen girl, then the purple umbrella blocks the attack and Kogasa bravely opens it then quickly flashes Hatate.

It takes five flashes to make the zombie tengu flinch and give the karakasa the chance to take the black-haired girl and pull her away.

Once away, the turquoise girl strikes the reporter's face and shouts "what the hell is the matter with you?"

Recovering from her shock and absence of mind, the tengu girl looks at the karakasa, who angrily shouts "first you act like a lunatic who's just about to give up on everything, then you act all insane and brave-like, and now that you recover from all that you freeze like this?"

Aya holds her temples in an attempt to hold her unsettled eyes in place, but she can't, and noticing this, the karakasa ghost grabs her friend by her arms and shakes her violently.

Once the tengu's eyes meet with the dual-colored eyes of her friend, the karakasa sighs and says "Aya-san, I know this is hard, I've been there, but we are here with you! Lets combine our strength and fight! That's how I did it Miss Aya-san!"

The turquoise girl bravely turns around, holding her umbrella with her right hand, then flashes the approaching zombie tengu five more times to make her flinch, then pulls the black-haired girl along with herself farther away and looks into her friend's eyes.

"I was scared, no I **AM** scared! I wish this would all just stop, but after seeing what happened to you, all because I was that scared... I promise to be stronger for us Miss Aya, but I need yours and Miss Satori-san's strength!"

The black-haired reporter's eyes regain their usual shine when Kogasa's words reach her.

Again the karakasa ghost has to turn around and fire off several flashes, this time to assist the overwhelmed satori maiden and to fend off another attack attempt by zombie Hatate.

Shameimaru watches has her friends fight, the world around her moves in slow motion as she absorbs the facts of her surroundings and her karakasa partner's words, yet she remains where she is.

"Something's wrong! There shouldn't be this many humans," exclaims the satori maiden.

"Yeah, I noticed," calls back the karakasa as she kills three more human zombies, then shouts "and that girl keeps going after Aya-san! We have to protect her!"

Several human zombies now surround the two fighting girls, who soon realize they have been fighting the same ones all this time.

Those zombies surprise the girls when they reveal their small but sharp claws to them and swing faster than they walk.

"Whoa!" exclaims Satori after jumping away from a swing.

"No giving up, no-oh no! AYA-SAN!" desperately calls the karakasa youkai when she realizes the tengu is still standing in the same spot while looking at zombie Hatate.

Both the satori and karakasa look at each other with brave faces, nod, then blast the zombies away with several fast and unforgiving bullets, then a girl screams.

"**AYA~!**" desperately call the girls with fright in their voices.

They rush toward their tengu friend but stop and gasp with surprise.

The tengu reporter is jumping over the zombie tengu and flashing her with the camera at high speeds while shouting "you think. you can. take me. you insufferable bitch?"

She stops jumping and flashes zombie Hatate straight on the face and causes her to scream and writhe around while holding her eye sockets.

"I was better than you while you were alive, so now that you're dead, I'm twice as much and all that you shut-in," declares the tengu while pointing at her old rival.

She turns her head to look at her friends with a confident smile, then bows her head and softly says "I'm sorry. I lost my mind for a moment."

The girls return the smile, then take an attack stance, their smiles turn vile, then Aya, who's smile is the vilest of the three, declares "do or die! Take them all out any way you can!"

The remaining human zombies are already close to the girls, and Hatate is already on her tengu rival as well.

The tengu girl takes her fan and swings it to generate several small tornadoes and traps all zombies in them, then flashes them all without mercy, making them moan as though in pain.

She jumps away from the tornadoes when the zombies start spitting that black ooze, then shouts "don't let that black shit touch you!"

Kogasa and Satori are doing well with combined bullets and flashes, but the human zombies keep getting up and getting closer, so the satori maiden lifts a spell card from her pocket and shouts "stay close to me!"

The karakasa presses her back against her purple-haired partner as the mind-reader loudly declares "Memory Sign, Brain Fingerprint!"

Using Kogasa's and her own recent traumas, the immediate area around the girls turns pitch black and the satori maiden fires several bright orbs around her and the karakasa.

Before the turquoise-haired girl can ask, the seemingly harmless orbs explode violently, flashing and burning the entire area where she and her two partners are.

Everything is quiet afterward, the two girls look around each other to admire what that spell just did, then gasp at the sight of the many decaying corpses lying on the ground.

Most of the fallen zombies now have new wounds on their decaying flesh, some even missing large chunks of flesh from their torso, but knowing they will wake up in a matter of days settles the girls' worries.

Then they lay their eyes upon Aya and Hatate, and though weakened, the zombie tengu is still standing.

She raises her clawed hands and bends her body backward to look at the sparking clouds in the sky and screams "**SHAMEIMARUUUU, BIIIIIIITCH!**" revealing her small but sharp and stained jagged teeth on her swollen rotting gums.

She swings both claws downward, the black-haired girl jumps back, the zombie girl follows and tries thrusting her hand through the living tengu's chest, but the live one moves quickly and flashes the zombie again.

Zombie Hatate shrieks and screams while scratching her face and stumbling backward, and Aya takes the chance and follows after her, flashing her on the face and inside that hole on her chest.

Hatate roars and screams and tries to swing her claws straight forward but fails, and now all three girls face the stubborn zombie tengu, raise their flashing weapons, and right before flashing the weakened zombie the live tengu says "be a good girl and stay dead while I solve this incident."

They triple-flash the zombie, it stumbles backward but manages to straighten up, they flash her again and she falls on her knees, they flash her one last time and she finally falls on her face, whispering "Shameimaruuuuu," as her smelly breath leaves her rotting body.

* * *

><p>After catching their breaths and admiring their work, the karakasa and satori look to the tengu.<p>

"Move," commands the black haired girl, and all three head straight to the west exit and one step closer to their main goal.

Only three minutes after they leave, several wiggling fingers spring out of Hatate's back, breaking several holes on her shirt, then three of them grow into large tentacles that swing about furiously.

Meanwhile, the three girls run as though there was something already after them, yet their rear is clear.

All three are desperate to fix all of this mess and get back to their lives, and so they run, as fast as they can, to reach that desired goal, the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and solve the incident.

"HOLY SHIT," screams the tengu as she and her partners skid to a stop.

"Thi-this... this is not fair! We're so close," cries the satori with longing eyes aimed forward.

"Tch! Of all the rotten luck," growls the karakasa as she bravely raises her purple umbrella and aims its large eye forward.

An entire nest of black spiders with abdomen mouths block the twenty-five or so feet between the girls and the village's western exit.

"Grr! It didn't look that big before," grumbles the tengu as she raises her camera.

"We turn back," demands the karaksa "we turn back now and find another way," then she flashes the spiders.

The three girls run away fast after each flash once more, killing two of the countless black spiders before them, which screech loudly as their bodies become a slimy black puddle on the ground.

"What the- But they weren't here before," exclaims the mind-reader when she and her allies come to the realization that more human zombies have appeared from behind them.

Amongst the already known zombies are a second type of human-like creatures, these having shriveled red skin, black eyes or empty sockets, their back are curved, their hands are skeletal, yet retain that red skin clinging to the bones, and on their hands and legs sport a set of nasty-looking black claws.

These roar when they sense the girls and move so fast they disappear from sight.

Aya flashes in front while Kogasa keeps on the spiders, and understandably irritated the mind-reader asks "Shameimaru what are you doing? The spiders are behind!"

The tengu shows the purple-haired girl the camera's monitor to show her she just flashed two of those red zombies, then she gasps.

The tengu fires another shot to the right of the satori and shouts "we need to get to higher ground!"

Satori points to the large double-floored white house nearest to a pack of regular zombies and shouts "there! We can get on the roofs from there!"

The spiders start screeching one by one as the karakasa kills one-after-another, then she turns forward and cries "there's too many! I can't hold them!"

"Tengu run," declares the black-haired girl, then she grabs her partners by their waists, summons gust of winds on her legs, then runs almost as fast as a white wolf tengu.

"SHOOT RIGHT!" commands the tengu, and the turquoise-haired girl flashes a red zombie just as she was ready to claw them all at once.

"SATORI!" shouts the tengu, and the mind-reader flashes to the left, knocking out two large zombie fairies and another black spider.

The house is just a few feet away, those red zombies have them surrounded, the slow human zombies are starting to gather in front of the door, and behind them are a pack of five of those spiders and several giant moth-like creatures that snarl and secret a visibly hot acidic fluid form their mouths.

The tengu stops in front of the house's porch, the girls press their backs against each other, and without turning away from their many pursuers they all feel when each nods once and flash their surroundings afterward.

The bugs fall on their back, the red zombies roar and back away after one of them dies, and the zombies gathering around the door either stumble backward or fall on their stomachs.

"GO!" shouts the tengu girl, then she and her two partners run to the open western-style door and bang it to a close after entering it.

Satori turns her flashlight on and spots two zombie fairies on a cabinet in the living room, but before she can alert the girls the karakasa youkai is already flashing the life out of those monsters.

"Shit," exclaims the tengu while pushing a heavy drawer in front of the door, then sighs after her job is done and says "we can't place a ward here. We have to move!"

The satori girl nods and softly says "I agree. Let's go to the second floor."

"Um, girls..." The karakasa ghost points to the obliterated mess that should be the wooden stairs to the second and says "we're going to have to boost ourselves up."

The girls' eyes seem to have adjusted well to the darkness because they can see the tengu girl grinning as she slowly makes her way to the destroyed steps.

Kogasa doesn't wait and forces Aya's foot on to her cupped hands, then uses her youkai strength to send the tengu over the eight-foot wall to the next floor.

"Kogasa, what are you-?"

"You two first! Then you can lift me up," exclaims the karakasa before the tengu can finish her question, then urges Satori to move.

The purple-haired girl nods and rushes to the brave karakasa, then is immediately boosted up to the next floor and lifted safely to her feet by the tengu.

Now it's the turquoise girl's turn and she lifts her hands up to be pulled up.

"**KYAAH~!**"

The girl screams when her right leg is caught, and when the satori youkai points her flashlight they see the upper half of a human zombie with his rotting guts and organs spilling from the lower part of its body, bleeding profusely as they hang about.

The girls above call for the karakasa, then the girl kicks the head of the zombie clean off its former shoulders and the body immediately falls.

Unsettled, the girl raises her hands again and cries for assistance, and both Aya and Satori reach for her and pull the girl up as fast as their strength allows them.

The purple-haired girl quickly points her flashlight toward Kogasa's leg, then sighs with great relief when she sees not cuts or any damage.

"Phew! You lucky girl, you're ok," sighs the tengu, while the sweet karakasa breathes deeply through her mouth while punching the floor, thanking everything she can think of for her current good fortune.

The satori maiden stands and coldly says "we're not out of this yet! Come on, I saw a window close to the next house's roof."

The tengu helps the karakasa to her feet and all three girls quickly move to the center room.

They open the door and look inside, and within find one of those monsters with a horrible little fetus on the head, screeching after seeing them.

The satori girl shrieks and immediately shuts the door just as the monster launches to them, and slams hard on the white wooden door.

"Next room!" exclaims the tengu, then all three nod and run straight to the farthest room and away from the incessant and furious clawing and snarling from the horrible trapped creature.

The karakasa opens the next door and flashes the master bedroom relentlessly, but the room is thankfully empty.

A crash from the first floor alerts the girls of the break-in of the zombies, and can hear several thumping footsteps going straight to their direction.

"This is it," says Satori while pointing at the left-side window, showing the girls how the roof on that side is relatively close to the next house.

Aya takes her fan and swings it with force, breaking the window and jumping on the roof, then shouts "it's clear! Come on!"

"Wait, what's this?" slowly asks the satori after she notices something lying on the bed.

The turquoise-haired karakasa runs to the window and calls "come on! Hurry," while the purple-haired satori picks up a rolled blue paper sheet that was lying on the bed.

She nods to her friend and rushes to the window, jumps out, then all three girls run to the next roof.

From within the house they can hear the trapped monster has escaped and is now roaring while looking for them, mixing with the many roars and moans from the monsters searching for them on the lower floor.

The jump to the next roof is a bit tricky, but Aya and Kogasa manage to jump across easily.

Satori takes a deep breath, clenches the rolled piece of paper while placing her hand on her chest, and then she runs.

A massive yellow ball of energy flies from one of the buildings further east, grazes the satori maiden's head as she makes her jump, and after the karakasa and tengu grab their friend the ball of energy enters the window and the house from where they just escape explodes with such force it becomes a pile of rubble and burning lumber in a matter of a single minute.

The two standing girls and the sitting satori maiden stare dumbstruck at the massive bonfire that used to be a beautiful two-story house, and watch as the monsters that were inside burn to dust from the intense heat.

* * *

><p>In their shock, the girls unwisely wait to see if another ball of energy comes flying around so as to try and head toward that location it comes from in the hopes of finding yet another survivor, or an overpowered zombie monster.<p>

"_With our luck, we'll probably find the zombie_" thinks the tengu reporter while looking over the satori maiden's shoulder.

The flame from the burning house in front is perfect for the girls to read the note the mind-reader had found on the bed, and read the following.

_Too bad. I tried to keep Udonge's mind from turning to pudding, but I failed._

_Instead, she mutated right before my very eyes and threatened my life several times._

_I couldn't keep that hulking idiot lose, so I decided to contain her as best I could and flee._

_Tewi has been infected too, and from what I can tell her mind is resisting, but the strain of having her body mutate at such a rapid pace, and while still breathing, is very taxing for the mind._

_She was already a challenge when normal, and I would much rather not face her in her fully mutated state. That could prove dangerous._

_Now, concerning the princess. It seems she got infected too, but she is already immortal, which concerns and fascinates me greatly._

_Just like I said with Tewi, having the body mutate at a rapid pace while alive and conscious is very taxing for the mind._

_True that her body regenerates immediately after it starts decomposing, but the pain it caused her sent her mind to hell several times until it broke._

_She took her makeup and started drawing on her face, she started taking bites out of the necks of the rabbits, even those already infected and mutated, and then she took off, saying she was going shopping._

_I couldn't risk being seen so I had to let her go as I kept watch from the shadows, and I am sure I won't be able to stop her on my own either way. She is my princess, and I dare not use force to subdue her._

**_Oh, by the spirits, I think I understand!_**

_I will have to look into this matter, but the air here in the Human Village is different, and I found-_

_Because of that I think I need that stone and feather to-_

_It's a long shot, but I have no choice here as I'm already feeling different._

_Somehow, I think I've been infected, though I haven't been scratched or bitten._

"Well, that's kinda discouraging," nervously says the karakasa girl after done reading, then chuckles to try and hide the fact that she's quite disturbed by this note.

The tengu stares at it with curiosity, even after the satori girl rolls it and places it in her backpack, and still staring she says "so that alien doctor was alive and left those disturbing notes out there. It's a bit strange, don't you think?"

Satori glances at her tengu partner, then casually says "you are the one who is strange."

Before the black haired girl can react, Kogasa taps both girls on the head with the tip of her umbrella once and says "come on, let's move it. You want to find out where that blast came from, and we all want to get out of here before we get surrounded by who-knows-what again."

The girls walk over to the other side of the roof and one-after-the-other jump to the ground and walk speedily toward what they believe is the source of the yellow energy ball.

As they walk to the eastern side of the village Aya asks "hey, Satori? What did you mean by me being strange?"

Even the karakasa glances over to the mind-reader with curiosity, then notices the girl's black pants through the hole on the back of her pink skirt and chuckles mischievously.

Picking up on the youkai umbrella's thoughts, the satori maiden places her hands behind herself to attempt and cover that hole, though it's futile.

"Well, it's just that," the satori hesitates to continue, but forces herself to do so "well your mind was so unhinged earlier this evening I thought you were going to try and kill us both, but after the fight with that zombie Lunarian you've calmed down a bit."

The tengu reporter glances upward and scratches her chin while thinking "hmm, now that you mention it, after I woke up I felt very refreshed."

"Not just then," continues the satori maiden, "when that tengu zombie screamed like that you went all paranoid and scared, and I thought we had lost you there, yet you recovered yourself again, and after Kogasa talked to you, well you completely turned around."

Both tengu and karakasa blush a bit out of embarrassment, then the black-haired reporter softly says "um, I-I guess I just needed some encouragement. I mean, that girl died because of me and-and I thought I'd end up doing the same to you guys. So I just-"

"That's enough," barks the turquoise girl. "She's been through enough, so please stop bringing those old bad thoughts back. The important thing is that we are all ok."

And then they stop walking.

Aya and Satori look at each other and smile, then turn those smiles to Kogasa, who chuckles bashfully, then walks closer to her partners.

The three look toward the open gates of the Hieda Mansion, and from there they can see a burnt hole on the roof of the main building, and notice the burned borders on said hole are still sizzling.

"Yup, there was someone here alright," casually comments the tengu girl.

"Alright then, let's head inside and check this place fast," says the satori maiden before she suddenly shivers and adds "and the faster, the better. I'm getting a very bad feeling here."

* * *

><p>The girls take some time to look around themselves and take notice of the condition of the mansion.<p>

It's an abandoned, gloomy and derelict architecture that is possibly infested with more zombies.

Aya glances upward, feeling a cold chill coming from the larger building, the very one they should explore, and says "hold it. That one in front, I bet my right wing its full of those... things."

"You do realize the blast came from in there, right?" asks Satori while pointing a gun-shaped hand forward.

The tengu nods sternly, then relaxes her face into a happy smile and says "yeah, yeah, still, let's start with that small building over there," while pointing two gun-shaped hands to the right and finishes "that's where Akyuu used to work."

Kogasa rests her umbrella on her shoulder while stretching the right side of her lips into a half-smile and says "so, the easy part first, huh? Let's go then. Besides, whoever shot that thing at us is probably gone from here anyway."

The tengu wraps her arm around the karakasa's shoulders and forces a laugh, then says "I really like the way you think, you deceivingly cute little lady."

The two girls laugh for a bit and realize the satori maiden is giggling besides them.

She is unable to contain her smile as she looks toward the smaller building slightly hidden besides the larger architecture, then says "fine, fine, let's go to the smaller one."

They start their walk feeling quite at-ease, and after getting wrapped by the tengu's free hand the satori says "you know, it feels good to relax like this, even if things are this bleak."

The karakasa chuckles as her response, and the tengu sighs and says "I wish it could stay like this all the time," then lowers her tone "but something tells me it's just not possible."

Black roaches the size of human hands crawl out from underneath the mansion's floor, clicking and clacking their disgusting little legs as they move, then Aya points at them and furiously shouts "AND THE MOMENT IS RUINED!"

The girls' faces turn blue with disgust, all three squeeze together as their bodies shiver violently and their mouths stretch as they prepare to scream, then tears of fright start flowing through their eyes, and Kogasa screams "RUUUUN!"

All three girls run faster than ever, their faces turn almost black with the mixture of fright and fatigue while tears stain their cheeks, and all because they have king-sized cockroaches chasing after them and clicking as though attempting to speak.

The girls don't really care for what these mutated creatures want to say. All they want to do is run and hide somewhere the roaches cannot get near them, and before they know it they are all inside Akyuu's study, shutting the door and pushing it against the disgusting little monsters so they can't enter.

The tengu and karakasa quickly realize everything has become quiet once again, and look at each other for acknowledgement on this turn of event.

Once they relax again they look at the satori maiden, who whimpers while pushing hard against the door as though doing so for dear life.

The black-haired girl softly says "Satori, it's ok," and places her hands on the girl's shoulders.

She screams and flails her arms around while screaming for help at the same time as Aya screams "it's me! It's us! They're gone, it's ok!"

The satori slowly calms down, stops flailing her arms around, lowers her voice and allows herself to breathe through her mouth, then the karakasa sighs, bends her knees and arcs her back so she's looking at the floor, then sounding tired she says "man, and we were actually having such a good time too."

"You won't find many of those- in the state this world is," says a raspy voice from the farthest corner of the room.

The three girls twitch at the sound of the unfamiliar voice and swiftly turn around with their flashing weapons on hand.

There is nothing there, save for the many scrolls, papers and books that the chronicler has written, and the small desk she used to sit behind.

They can all feel something odd with their heads and are forced to close their eyes for three seconds, and when they open them again they gasp at the sight.

Akyuu of Hieda, the child of mare, stands in front of her desk, emanating a soothing, yet eerie light, and a calming mist meant to relax those that are to be her prey for easier catching.

Her ghostly eyes emanate a sense of a horrifying peace, her yellow, green and red outfit looks clean, save for a large bloodstain on the right shoulder, her hair has turned grey and seems to have been cut short with a rock on the left side, her skin has dried and pruned up, making it hard to see her bones through it, and even though she has the girls at her mercy, she just stands there with her hands stuffed in her sleeves and stares.

She looks at Kogasa and says "welcome dear friends," then looks at Aya and continues "we were expecting you to arrive sooner," then she looks at Satori and says "but they couldn't wait. It's too late. I am about to turn into one of _them_."

The tengu opens her mouth to try and say some words, but none come, and now she's starting to feel sleepy and just about to collapse.

Noticing this, the young-looking chronicler closes her eyes and somehow manages to suppress her own mist, then says "yes, that's right. I was bitten by one of my servants three days after those clouds spread that spell over the village. Don't worry, even through the maddening pain of death I managed to keep my mind. Heh, what a gift it is to remember everything, is it not?"

The satori, feeling a little stronger, takes a step forward and asks "are you the one that fired that spell?"

The zombie chronicler spreads her arms apart to show the girls she no longer has hands, then says "for a spell of that caliber to work, fingers are needed, which you can clearly see I lack."

She picks herself up again and hides the stumps for hands inside her sleeves again and continues "the order has been issued. We are to attack and kill you if we see you. Aya, Satori, you will have to be the ones to clear this confusing mess. Kogasa, please guard them as well as you can, for as long as you can."

The dumbstruck karakasa can only nod, but the tengu snaps herself out of the shock and shouts "what the hell? What are you talking about girl? Who is ordering who here? S-start making sense!"

The zombie girl sighs, then says "in your journey you might find more like me. You need to take them out from a distance or you'll be haunted by your own dreams while they devour your flesh."

Before the girls can shout some more, zombie Akyuu raises her hands again, the mist around her turns violent, her ghostly eyes turn red, and just like that it all turns back to looking eerily peaceful.

The frightened girls stammer, then the zombie girl hurriedly says "I have to kill you now, but if you flash me as I am you'll be safe! DON'T HESITATE! Miss Aya, Miss Satori, the spell doesn't affect you at all. Please don't fail!"

"WAIT," shouts the tengu, but the zombie girls moves back as though hovering on the ground and says "these are the final words of Akyuu Hieda before her untimely death, unless these two can resolve the incident."

She raises her hands again, her eyes and mist turn violent once more, then the three girls raise their flashing weapons and flash the girl several times before her body floats as she falls to the floor and gently settles between a shelf and the desk.

A scroll falls out of the girl's sleeve and rolls to the tengu's feet.

She picks it up and promptly opens it up, then her and her partners' eyes water when they read the words "THANK YOU" written in what looks like blood.

The mind-reader gulps and asks "wh-where to? W-what should we do?"

The black-haired reporter sighs, drops the scroll on the floor in front of her feet, then says "well, at least we know there is someone going against us out there, but who and why, is something I would love to know."

The girls look at the karkasa and notice the lost look in her eyes, then the tengu says "and what was all that about? She spoke as if Kogasa was just some shield! That was horrible."

The turquoise girl shakes her head and calmly says "it's alright," then looks at the staring girls and says "let's just get out of here."

* * *

><p>"Alright, we run back to the west exit and break our way through," exclaims the satori, then turns to the door and says "we go to that mansion and spill that cauldron Miss Aya and Miss Kogasa!"<p>

The two girls remain still, staring at Satori after noticing a glimmer of hope in her eyes, and said girl turns around with a brave and resolute look on her face and says "she made it sound like this could all be reverted if we succeed! That means we can save Okuu, Orin, and even Miss Reimu and Yamame! Maybe even Miss Hatate."

Hearing those names brings hope to the girls and their eyes fill with hope as well.

The satori maiden smiles and opens the door, then bravely flashes the few large roaches still currying about, turns around and signals the girls to follow "COME ON!"

Confidence take over the girls and all three are now flashing the life out of those roaches as they make their way back toward the mansion's exit.

They break through the hoard of giant roaches, even though disgusted when some of those jump on their hands or faces, and finally reach the exit.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew! I don't want to do that again!" complains the karakasa while shaking her hands and holding her lunch inside herself.

The tengu gulps her heart and stomach back into their original spots and says "alright, we did it. Next is the western-"

The main mansion behind them explodes and its front collapses into the flames that formed on the base of the structure.

The startled girls tremble as they turn around, and soon after they do all three take brave faces and ready themselves to attack.

"Get out of my fucking house!" screams zombie Mokou as she gets up on her feet and standing between the flames, and revealing her eyes have now lost the red iris.

"And there she is," calmly says the tengu girl as she raises her camera "the immortal who's become immortal once more."

The zombie girl covers her white eyes with her shriveled hands and cries "MAMA~! She said I was pretty~!"

A second figure drops from the sky and lands right next to Mokou, and in a nasally tone of voice, Keine Kamishirasawa shouts "no finish assignment!? PUNISH!"

The once stunningly beautiful history teacher is now a horrifying monster with slimy decaying yellow skin.

What should be her breasts look like shriveled sacks that cling to the fabric of her clothes, only a few long strands of silver hair remain on her head, her eyes look like two ivory crystal balls, and though the lower part of her dress is completely gone, nothing desirable can be seen there.

Instead there is a large hole on what should be the stomach that lets all see the internal organs as they rot away, yet continue to function.

"Ooh boy, this is not good," comments the karakasa, to which the tengu replies "hit them hard and fast, and don't give them the chance to-"

The brave reporter's words cut short when her greatest fear, now shared with Satori through thoughts, becomes a reality in front of her very eyes.

The clouds above split apart as though knowing what they are doing and let the bright light of the full moon to shrine through straight on to zombie Keine.

The second that light touches the zombie a pair of blood-stained horns grow on her head, her eyes turn scarlet, a skeletal tail with a sharp tip springs out of her lower spine, and to the girls' horror, a pair of sharp greenish-white spikes grow out of the zombie's under-forearms, then she roars.

"**HOLY SHIT!**" exclaim the tengu and karakasa at the same time as the satori exclaims "this is **NOT good!**"

Mokou happily calls "mama~ You grew up," to which the zombie hakutaku snarls "eat vitamin bird!"

The girls blink once, and when they open their eyes they look to the sky toward Mokou, who carries Aya away toward the farms.

"AYA-SAN!" calls the karakasa while trying futilely to reach for the tengu, but she soon remembers she still has an enemy in front of her, and the mind-reader is still with her and might need help.

"I know," says Satori while keeping her eyes on Keine and saying "we have to take care of this one first before we can chase after her!"

The karakasa nods and bravely faces the zombie.

Keine takes one step forward and now stands between the two girls, strikes the satori with the back of her hand, then the karakasa ghost flips backward to avoid the swift tail and flashes the zombie hakutaku twice before having to move again and avoid getting impaled by that large forearm spike.

Several pink hearts strike the side of zombie Keine's head, making her roar and turn her attention to the satori.

She flashes the hakutaku with her third eye, yet the zombie doesn't even flinch and charges the satori with her head-horns lowered toward the girl's stomach.

The mind-reader runs around in a circle in hopes of somehow escaping those vicious-looking horns, but soon realizes she's no match for the zombie, and those horns are a mere inch away from touching her back.

Kogasa sticks her umbrella between the charging zombie's legs, then lifts it up with all her might and forces Keine to fly off the ground for a bit and fall on her head, sticking her horns on the ground and breaking her neck after she falls with that built up momentum from running around.

Satori stops and quickly regroups with the karakasa and asks "is she dead?", but she already knew the answer.

Keine roars as she accommodates her body, pulls her horns free from the dirt, and after straightening back up she grabs her limping head with both hands and raises it.

When she lowers it, a disturbing pop, followed by a horrible crack, unsettles the karakasa and satori, then the zombie woman grins, showing her yellowish teeth to the girls and says "hurt teacher, demerit headbutts get!"

The youkai girls find themselves dodging those arm-spikes and sharp tail before they even realize what happened, and yet find themselves capable of dodging those swift attacks and shooting continuous flashes with ease.

Finally, a flash on the scarlet eyes from the karakasa's umbrella makes the zombie hakutaku shriek and stumble backward while covering her face.

"The eyes are the weak points," observes the satori maiden, then she taps the karakasa on the shoulder and says "I'll distract her and you flash her in the eyes again."

Kogasa nods and takes a fighting stance with her umbrella held by both hands, then Satori flashes the zombie and shouts "hey, stupid teacher! Bet you can't catch ME!"

Zombie Keine rubs her eyes one last time, then screeches at the girls, aims her horns at the taunting satori, then swiftly turns and charges toward the karakasa.

"WHOA!" exclaims the turquoise girl when she finds herself being the unexpected distraction.

She turns around to run away only too late and doesn't have the chance to avoid those horns, so she hops high enough and lands sitting on the zombie's neck, grabs her horns while skillfully holding her umbrella between her arms, then guides the zombie woman around.

To her great luck the zombie isn't smart enough to swing that tail while she's riding her, so the karakasa can easily take matters into her hands.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" calls the satori maiden while chasing after the charging zombie and her passenger.

"Ready a big one! Head for that tree," calls back the karakasa ghost as she steers the zombie woman by her horns.

The satori maiden runs toward a large tree near the center of the village and flashes a few human and fairy zombies out of her way, and though the fairies fall fast, she has to waste some time with the zombie humans before they fall.

Kogasa steers zombie Keine toward a group of zombie fairies and a two-headed boar and cheers when the horns skewers those monsters, then turns the woman's head to the tree and jumps off.

The hakutaku woman rams her horns and sticks them on the three trunk, and again manages to break her own neck in the process.

Keine immediately gets up and tries to pull herself free, and even though she doesn't seem to feel pain, she shrieks every time she stretches her neck in the attempt to free herself and the other monsters and immediately stops and tries cutting the tree with her forearm spikes.

Satori smiles while breathing hard through her mouth after reaching the tree, bends her knees close to the zombies, then says "smile~" and flashes them all several times, killing the lesser monsters after the fifth flash.

However, the zombie hakutaku is still alive and snarls while trying to cut herself free from that tree, though seems to have weakened considerably.

The karakasa walks to the satori, kneels beside her friend, then the girls smile at each other, aim their flashing weapons at those scarlet eyes, then flash without showing the least bit of mercy.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, as the girls battle it out with zombie Keine, Aya struggles against Mokou and her surprisingly sharpened blood-dripping teeth so as not to get another bite on the shoulder.<p>

Even while flying the zombie winds her neck back and lunges it forward to try and take a bite off the tengu, whether on the neck or shoulders.

The short-haired tengu uses her free hands and all her strength to push the zombie's head and save herself from a painful bite, while at the same time attempts to take out her camera.

Again her attempt is thwarted when Mokou lunges her teeth toward the tengu's neck again.

The girl shrieks when she feels the cold lips of the zombie touching her skin, and out of desperation she punches the already-immortal on the cheek and forces herself free.

The landing is a shameful display for someone like Aya, a crow tengu, who first falls on her back, skids and bounces off the ground only to skid on her face and bounce once more, then rolls like a ball until she crashes on the broadside of a white barn.

She groans after her face almost sinks to the ground and her bottom ends up being the best peep-show ever, showing the world a pair of pink panties with flower prints.

Still, seeing as there is nobody that would be interested in that, save to literally eat the flesh of the girl, the tengu finds no reason to compose herself too quickly, that is, until Mokou shouts "it's my life! MY LIFE you BITCH!"

She quickly gets on her feet and takes her digital camera out of her pocket, then spots the zombie flying in circles above her like some vulture.

Zombie Mokou drops from the sky and falls hard on her knees right in front of the tengu, then looks up with a pained look and cries "p-please end this! I-I'm going mad. Miss Tengu please **kill me!**"

Aya hesitates for a second when she realizes this girl has somehow recovered her senses, but she's not about to wait to see if it's real or not, and she's just been requested a rather strong wish.

She takes several photos of the immortal, who screams as the flashes burn her body, but even after ten consecutive flashes the zombie girl continues screaming in pain.

The tengu stops for a moment to allow the flash to cool down a bit; it is a camera after all; and asks "m-miss? A-are you there?"

Mokou lunges at the black haired girl and breaks a hole into the barn, and now both girls struggle as they roll toward the center of the large building.

Aya flashes the zombie several more times until she finally yelps and jumps back to rub her eyes and face, then the tengu takes the chance to get closer and flash the zombie girl directly on the face.

She jumps back to avoid a claw swipe from Mokou but continues flashing the immortal, thinking "_I have to take care of her now before she loses her mind again! She could torch the place if I don't hurry!_"

The tengu's fears become real when Mokou cries "MOMMY~! THE BIRDIE IS HURTING MEEE!", then ignites her left hand and sends a powerful fireball straight at the reporter's face.

The tengu has to jump away to avoid the fireball, but it blasts the back of the barn and sets some hay and dried vegetables in boxes on fire.

"Shit," she barks as she gets back on her feet and takes her fan on her left hand.

She swings it and declares "Whirl Sign, Maple Leaf Fan - EXTEND," and a large tornado materializes in front of her with one swing and moves toward the flame.

Mokou stands up, sobbing and mumbling incoherently while slumping, apparently dripping blood from her head, then lifts her bloodstained face and screams.

Aya yelps with fright, but instinctively flashes the light-lilac-haired zombie five more times, then everything stops, even the tornado she created stops on its own after all the flames subside.

The zombie girl trembles as she lifts her head to meet the tengu's face, then whispers "th-thank y-...ou."

A hand thrusts itself through Mokou's falling body, then Hatate reveals herself after tossing the zombie's carcass out a window, then snarls.

Her dangling eye seems to have broken off, her skin looks like it's full of rashes, a thorn has grown on her right elbow, and the girl's eye sockets seem to glow with a faint scarlet light.

She hisses as she breathes and stares at her former rival, bends her back into an attack position, then softly roars "Shameimaruuu," then arcs her body upward and screams out loud "**BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

* * *

><p>Aya panics, her mind flashes back to that very moment she kicked the girl in front of her to her death.<p>

She freezes and is unable to move to avoid getting slapped by the back of Hatate's hands.

She can't hear herself yelp in pain while flying backward, she can't feel when her body hits the ground, she doesn't even notice the whole minute it takes for Hatate to get close again.

The zombie tengu roars "SHAMEIMARUUUU," and raises her right hand to throw a well-aimed strike to the black-haired girl's very heart.

The black-haired reporter doesn't see this coming and instead sees that scene repeating itself in front of her eyes.

She hears herself calling for Hatate, wishing it was all a stupid nightmare and that she would wake up.

She hears herself begging the spirits to never meet with the reanimated and mutated body of her former rival and tengu comrade, yet fails to see the reality of that very same girl throwing a fast straight clawed hand at her chest.

"**AYA~!**"

Kogasa's voice echoes inside the tengu's mind, and thinking she's dead she looks around and hopes to see angels and gold-paved roads, but instead sees a blurry turquoise frame.

The karakasa strikes Hatate's hand away from her intended target with her umbrella and flashes her face, making her shriek and snarl, then quickly flips away from a furious claw swipe form the zombie.

"SHAMEIMARUUU BIIIIIII-!"

The karakasa youkai strikes the zombie tengu's face with her umbrella, then thrusts it between her eyes, opens it and flashes again, then kicks the zombie away.

After knocking Hatate back, the karakasa rushes to her tengu friend's side, kneels beside her and asks "Aya-san! Miss Aya-san, are you alright? Did she hurt you?"

To the tengu, Kogasa's voice sounds echoed in the distance, and yet she manages to shake her head in response.

The karakasa turns her eyes away and lifts her umbrella to defend herself from another claw swipe, then raises her hand and summons a rain of light-blue bullets that fall unevenly on the zombie.

She takes advantage of the distraction and flashes Hatate five more times, then smiles and says "I don't know how come you're already up, but this time I'll make sure to STAY down!"

She jumps back to avoid more claw swipes and flashes the zombie tengu, and now Aya starts feeling the warmth return to her body and manages to sit up to look for her camera.

Her vision slowly recovers as she moves closer to the silver digital camera, but then hears a sound she never hoped to hear.

There is a slash noise followed by Kogasa's grunt and her moan, and then she turns her frozen eyes to the left.

Zombie Hatate has struck the karakasa's stomach with her claws and is pulling on her flesh to take a bite out of her right upper arm.

The karakasa screams as her flesh is ripped off her arm with such brutality, and once again the world slows down for Aya Shameimaru.

What actually took only two seconds, for the tengu it took an eternity for Kogasa's body to finally hit the ground.

Her breathing breaks as she inhales and exhales through her mouth, watching with those shocked red eyes at her fallen partner; her friend.

Hatate wasn't done, and has stuck a vicious hand through the fallen youkai's abdomen and snarls at her victim.

"**KOGASA! NOOOO~!**"

Right now, Aya hates the sound of her own voice, yet she can't help but call for the karakasa repeatedly.

She doesn't know where it comes from or how she got it, but she feels a surge of pure rage that empowers her whole body and allows her to move as she should.

Aya Shameimaru picks the camera off the ground and flashes the zombie tengu's eyes, then grabs her fan again and swings it viciously fast and hard, shooting her worst bullets at the monster that so savagely ruined a friend.

As she kicks, shoots and flashes Hatate, the black-haired girl thinks "_I didn't really spend that much time with her, so why do I feel like this? I want to kill this fucking bitch, make her suffer for what she did! Kogasa!_"

She sucker-punches the zombie tengu on the face before she can scream the only two words she repeats, then flashes her face several more times before sending a human-sized tornado at her.

"_That girl, she was supposed to live, to come with me and Satori to the end! I even promised Yamame I'd keep her safe! Hatate, you bitch, what have you **DONE**? Why this? Why Kogasa? Why not ME? I'M IMMUNE! Akyuu said so!_"

While the tengu continues to beat down on the zombie, the satori maiden finally catches up and enters through the hole on the wall.

She spots her tengu friend and rushes to assist, but then she notices the karakasa on the ground, coughing out blood and rooting for Aya through pained moans.

"Kogasa! Oh no, I'm coming," calls Satori while rushing to the turquoise girl's aid.

Meanwhile Aya has Hatate weakened and just about ready to fall, yet continues her relentless attacks, flashing the zombie occasionally.

"_This is all my fault! I froze again, like a fucking human child! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME? Because of me Kogasa... This is not fair, this is not FAIR!_"

"THIS IS NOT FAAAAAAIIIR!" shouts the tengu, venting the last bit of rage left in her system and shooting Hatate with one final flash that sends her falling on her back.

She snarls as she stares at the fallen body of the one that took her friend's life, and after she is sure that tengu won't move again, she turns around and rushes to the karakasa.

* * *

><p>Her heart pounds hard when she turns around and is greeted by the pained smile of the karakasa ghost.<p>

"I'm sorry," sobs the tengu, and then somehow finds herself kneeling beside Kogasa and holding her up.

Satori trembles and tries to stop Aya, nervously whimpering "w-wait, she's weak," and trying to take the turquoise girl off the tengu's hands.

The wounded girl coughs some blood and smiles at the black-haired tengu, then softly says "Miss Aya-san, you're ok. F-for a moment there I thought I had... failed you."

"No, no, don't say that. J-just stand still and those wounds will be gone, and you, and me, and Satori can solve this incident!"

The tengu speaks fast and softly while comforting the karakasa with motherly brushes to her hair, and even saying these words she cannot stop the tear from rolling down her right cheek and dropping on the girl's open stomach wound.

She looks at the girl's wound and winces, then notices what look like yellow veins surrounding the bloodied opening on the stomach and the arm.

Kogasa complains and her face distorts when sharp pain throbs through her entire body, yet she suppresses this and smiles once more.

She lifts her left hand and places it on Aya's face, then softly says "please be strong Miss Aya-san. I'll become one of them soon and try to eat you, or something. Heheh. You-you'll have to take me out too."

Satori's hand join's the tengu's, and now the karakasa grabs that hand, squeezes it gently and softly says "if you keep hesitating and-and freezing like that you are both going to end up dead. P-please Miss Aya, Miss Satori, b-be strong? S-save our home, please?"

Tears now escape both girls as they try to be strong as requested, but this girl became special to both, and rather quickly, because in the little time they were together she encouraged them to stay together, to fight for each other like good partners.

She even brightened their bitter lives with kind words of encouragement, and if it was just for a moment, it felt good.

But what hurts Aya the most is the mixture of sadness and shame she feels, that this girl had to come and rescue her when she froze like a scared human, and that this girl had to be the one to take that hit intended for HER.

Kogasa's face twists and distorts again when the pain in her body takes her again and doesn't let go.

She tries not to sob but cannot help it, and with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks she looks at her friends, locks her pained face on the tengu, then cries "thi-this is starting to hurt. M-miss Aya, please kill me."

Shock take the tengu's watery eyes after hearing such request, and immediately replies "no! Please don't ask such a thing! You will-"

The karakasa grips the tengu's face and forces her to look right into her eyes so that she can see the determination in them, then croaks "I am not some human. Sh-show me some respect. I am a youkai! But even so, this pain is unbearable!"

Her eyes turn soft once more, but this is short-lived.

The sharp pain now feels like bolts of electricity are running through the karakasa's human-like body, despair takes her eyes, and using all her strength she shouts "KILL ME! IT HURTS MISS AYA! KILL ME, PLEAAAAAASE!"

The tengus arms move on their own when in an instant she twists them, that is followed by a loud crack, and the tengu lets the karakasa's limp body fall to the ground.

Satori covers her mouth when she sobs at the sight and turns away to hide her shock from her tengu partner, to try and avoid paining her more.

The girls stare at the body and hear as the girl on the ground whispers "thank you," as the last of her breath leaves her body.

Unstoppable streams of tears rush down the tengu's cheeks, unable to move her hands from their last position while that horrible crack repeats itself over and over in her mind.

She keeps her emptied eyes forward after finally allowing her arms to drop, then sobs as she whispers "don't... Don't thank me *sniff* you selfish bastards."

Her body trembles violently as she gazes over the karakasa's body once more, and a loud sob escapes her.

The satori maiden now kneels by her tengu partner's side, quickly wraps her arm around the girl's shoulders, and Aya starts wailing on Satori's shoulder.

Both girls remain on their knees and cry out so many frustrations it feels like they will never stop.

The satori maiden manages to cry a few words of comfort, but even she succumbs when the tengu's loud cries get to her.

And so the girls remain the rest of the night crying while kneeling beside their fallen friend until they both finally fall asleep.

They don't care if the karakasa's body is already mutating, or that there is a dead zombie next to them.

Right now all they feel is a weakening grief that refuses to let them move, and so they sleep, yet keep somewhat awake as their minds torture them with several unwanted scenes, including the fall of the brave karakasa youkai, and to Aya, this vivid nightmare, that body falling right before her eyes, will haunt her for a long time to come.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong so ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

July 31 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Wh-what? D-don't look at me like that. It happened for a reason. *Sniffle* Don't look at me!**

**This chapter was very hard to write for me, and not just because I was writing it at the same time as Icicle Sukima's chapter, but because I lost my motivation during the writing process (for no apparent reason) and because of many events in this chapter, including that last one... yeah, that one right there. I got stuck on Kaguya specifically because I wanted her to be far more disturbing than what she turned out to be, however in doing so her defeat would have been quite disappointing, so I toned her down a lot. I am glad with what I did.**

**No, I am not glad at that last paragraph, even if that was needed for story development! Seriously, I'm a sensitive person, and writing stuff as painful as that is very hard for me. Ah well, until next time.**


	5. Undying Village Pt2

**A/N:**

**Please forgive the few cheesy scenes up ahead orz. I tried to make them as good as I could, but hey, I'm not perfect. With that note, hope you'll forgive me and enjoy the gory goodness with some cheese on the side.**

* * *

><p><em>Why did this happen? Why does it still hurt? We weren't together that long and yet just having her with us brought both me and Satori the hope we failed to see on our own, even with the two of us encouraging each other, despite our disagreements. Kogasa; it was thanks to her that me and Satori didn't end up turning our backs to each other and walking away. She kept us together with that annoying cheerfulness of hers, and even if I did get angry at her for being a bit cowardly, I didn't really mind. I wanted to see the three of us together to the very end. What a foolish hopeless I am.<em>

The sun, or what little light of it that can shine through the mysterious clouds, signals the girls that an unwanted new day has come.

They kneel next to the pale and limp body of their fallen comrade, the karakasa youkai, Kogasa Tatara; her eyes have been closed, her umbrella has been placed on top of her, and on it her hands lay crossed to look like she's sleeping peacefully; and both tengu and satori silently pray for her.

Hiding under the shadow of the window to the right of the girls is the body of Hatate, and though it seems to twitch slightly, it is nothing noticeable or worthy of alarm.

Not moving from the spot after finishing her prayer, Aya takes her backpack off and opens it, takes the sake bottle she took from Kourindou, opens it with some effort, then pours some into a small brown bowl, then removes her tokin from her head and pours some in it.

Satori picks the bowl and raises it to her chest, but the tengu stops her from drinking just yet and looks into her eyes.

_We found Mokou on our way to the village and learned that even though she's immortal, she still got infected, and quickly after that we learned that Kaguya had also been affected, though we already know. At those moments I felt lost, confused, I wanted it all to end, and for a moment, it seemed my wish would have come true. After that battle against the crazy moon princess I felt much better, refreshed even, but shortly after that, I heard the voice of the one I killed just before I learned of this terrible incident. We tried escaping, and as our luck would have it we ended up fighting Hatate Himekaidou anyway. She wants to kill **me**, and I don't blame her. I was going to let her, but Kogasa, she came to me, she changed. She was no longer scared, and she urged me to move forward, to share my strength with those around me, just as she was doing, and I did, everything was going well, even when things started looking bleak again when we found out our path west was blocked. We escaped the ambush, almost got blasted by a giant ball of energy while escaping a hoard of zombies, we followed the source of that ball, we laughed together, and then we met Akyuu. From what she said, it seems Satori and I are immune to this... this damned spell that turned everyone and everything into zombies and mutants. She then asks Kogasa to protect us for as long as she could. We were still together then. But that all changed when Mokou came back, and with Keine. Those damned clouds! They purposely opened up to let the full moon shine on that were-beast! Kogasa was right about them. Anyway, right after that, Mokou separated me from the others. I was so scared. I was alone again! But I didn't give up! I fought hard; I wanted to go to the girls! I didn't want to be alone! After Mokou thanked me for killing her, same as Akyuu, I felt empty inside. And then Hatate came back and... I wish I could forget what happened then; heck, all I remember are blurs mostly. Most of the time I was stuck in that memory of the last time I saw Hatate alive. I remember seeing Kogasa saving my sorry ass again after my senses returned to me. I recovered, though slowly, went for my camera, I almost had it; **I was going to help her!** And she fell. As soon as that happened, I gave the murdering bitch a good slap, but that didn't turn back time so I could grow a damned spine before all that happened. And now she's gone. I broke my promise to Yamame._

The tengu looks straight into the satori's eyes, keeping a stern and straight look and holding back the tears that come from that fresh memory of her friend falling to the ground.

"I..." yelps the tengu with a cracked voice, then gulps and says "we are immune to this curse Satori."

The mind-reader nods once, and the tengu continues "because of my fear, my hesitation, Kogasa is now dead."

"No, Aya don't say things like that! It wasn't your fault," desperately argues the satori, almost spilling her drink from the bowl.

"I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN," barks the tengu as she punches the hay-littered ground.

She takes a deep breath and quickly exhales, then looks at the purple-haired mind reader and says "my friend, we stop hesitating. We trained hard, we've endured this long, we are immune, and we are the only ones that can do this now. There's just nobody else."

Satori nods again and whispers "we will not fail. We're both strong youkai, and we'll do everything necessary to take back our homes."

The black-haired reporter bows her head slightly and says "for Yamame, for Orin, for Reimu, for Okuu, for... Kogasa."

She sobs and a tear escapes the reporter's left eye after mentioning that name, and after wiping it off with her thumb she continues "let us go and cleanse this land."

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion is just a day's walk from here," says the satori maiden with steeled courage in her eyes, and sharing that strength with her tengu friend she says "we'll storm the hell out of that place and do what **has** to be done!"

The girls suddenly break a couple of smiles, even though they cry.

They bump their 'cups' gently, drink the contents, and then smile toward the body of their friend.

_She died protecting me, and though I'm not sure why she did it, I am sure I will not allow myself to fall now. I will not succumb to despair again; I will not lose my hope! I cannot let her sacrifice be in vain! Me and Satori, with my friend by my side I know I can take Gensokyo back! I may not like what I may see, and I'm sure my friend here won't like what she may see, but we will be there for each other and we won't allow ourselves to fall. This is Aya Shameimaru, and I write these words down on my notepad while we get ready to step back into that alien world, that world that mocks our home. We will fight for our lives and restore our Gensokyo! Just you wait and see._

"Can we go back to that mansion? Akyuu's mansion?" asks Aya after scribbling the last letter on her notepad.

Satori looks down to the ground to look into her kneeling friend's eyes and says "of course. I too believe we may have missed something important in there."

The tengu smiles, her friend smiles back, and after getting ready they head out.

Upon opening the barn's door they look back at Kogasa's body one more time, and then the tired black-haired crow softly says "you be good. Take care now. You can leave the rest to us."

The satori maiden lowers her head, and though her voice cracks she loudly says "ho-hope we can see each other again soon! A-as friends! A-after we fix all this mess!"

The two girls gasp when they think they see a smile on the deceased girl and smile back but quickly realize it's just their imagination, so with a sad frown they slowly close the door again, taking the road to a journey with no visible end in sight on this alien world, unaware that Hatate's body has started to twitch violently under the shadows.

* * *

><p>The girls now run toward the mansions after having been detected by several zombie fairies, but unlike former times there is no despair in their eyes.<p>

Instead the two youkai girls are putting their training to actual use, and as they run they alternate turning around and flashing once before turning around to continue running, taking out one or two fairies per turn.

"Damned disgusting monster! Don't they know we're just going to kill them?" rages Aya while taking her fan on hand.

"Blame their brains," begins Satori before turning around and flashing once then turn around again and continue "they're probably so rotten they can't even think of a number."

The reporter chuckles, turns around to flash some fairies, then turns around again and trips on a rock, falls on her face and slides on the unforgiving dirt road.

"AYA!" calls the satori maiden before stopping and flashing the remaining fairies to their deaths, causing them to fall and slide on the ground where their already rotting bodies shatter, and blood, organs and bits of skin are spread on the dirt like butter on bread.

She quickly kneels beside the crow girl and helps her friend turn around on her back, then both share a smile after they look at each other.

Satori pulls a pink handkerchief out of her pocket and starts cleaning the crow tengu's face while asking "are you alright? Can you stand?"

Aya chuckles and replies "I'm alright Satori," then looks at the disgusting sight of the mashed fairies, blood, guts, pieces of skin and bones, and says "heh, nice job there."

The mind-reader smiles, helps her friend on to her feet, and after a nod of acknowledgement they resume their advance to Akyuu's mansion.

It doesn't take them long to reach the destroyed architecture.

The flames that threatened to consume the large building are gone, but now in front of the entrance gate stand several bald skeletal human zombies, one of them with a particularly large gash on the stomach from where its bloody guts spill, rotting away while dragging on the ground as it moans and limps around.

A small-but-wide tornado traps the rotting creatures, forcing them to groan and hiss as the pressure of the wind crushes their already deceased carcasses, then two powerful flashes quiets a few before all are flung twenty feet away to several directions.

"Pheh, disgusting nuisances," spits the disgusted tengu while turning her nose away from the lingering bloody guts smell.

"That was too easy," suspiciously comments the purple-haired maiden as she and her friend walk through the gate, then agitatedly says "we better look around as fast as we can and scram."

The wingless crow girl nods and quickens her pace toward the broken mansion, keeping her camera held high in expectance of an attack that is sure to come.

Though it's dark inside the single-story mansion, the collapsed front allows plenty of light to shine through and allows the girls to see clearly, however that does not mean they can see everything in there.

Several doors lie wide open, yet the rooms inside are pitch black, and two more doors at the back remain slightly opened, and from one of them an eerie wind blows.

This is the door that catches Aya's and Satori's attention.

"Ready," whispers the mind-reader as her reporter friend places her hand on the door's frame and slowly slides it open.

A kitchen knife slices through the paper and manages to nick the back of the girl's hand, then a single-armed red zombie woman in a bloodied white kimono breaks through the door and falls on her face after failing her tackle.

"Are you ok?" concernedly asks the satori.

The tengu winces as she holds her hand, which heals after just a bit of blood trickles out of the cut, then glares at her attacker and says "the bitch got me, but it's not bad. I was just too quick for her."

The woman has two swollen orbs for eyes, the skin on her face has been ripped off from the ears forward, her right arm is missing and now has a floppy long sleeve dangling on there like a sheet-ghost, and from the looks of things she was bitten on several unpleasant parts of her lower and upper torso.

The knife-wielding monster with reddish skin stands up on her own without need for support from her arm and hisses at the girls, then quickly rushes to them and clumsily swings that knife while trying to take a bite off the nearest girl's limbs.

Aya flashes the side of the rotting freak, Satori smashes an ornamental pot on its head and forces it to stumble toward a wall, where it rams its head through, then flashes the back of the creature and steps away.

"She's coming back," shouts the black-haired girl, and just like she said the zombie breaks out of the wall, roars furiously, and swiftly turns to attack them.

Both girls flash the rampaging creature at the same time, taking her down and out between themselves, and again everything grows eerily quiet.

Clearly agitated, the two girls breathe hard through their mouths, and then the tengu smacks her lips and asks "are you alright?"

The purple-haired girl takes a long breath of air to relax, then gulps and nods before smiling at her friend.

They look to the room they were initially interested in, and while the satori wonders in confusion, the crow girl gasps with surprise.

Right there, just like that odd storage room at Eientei, hand-written in blood, are the letters L-E-T.

"Ayayaya," whispers the tengu reporter as she raises her camera, and though shocked with the surprise she takes a photo of the wall and says "it's just like before."

Satori silently stares at her friend and sees images of the Eientei room from her mind, then asks "what do you mean?"

Aya growls inward, keeps her eyes on the bloody letters and says "in a room at that accursed mansion were letters hand-written in blood, just like this, except there the letter were-"

A powerful shriek from a long distance causes the ground below the house to vibrate just slightly and the agitated girls ask "**what was that?**", then the answer comes quick.

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUUUUUUUU~!**"

Hatate's monstrous voice echoes clearly all the way from the farms and a mixture of terror and deep hatred runs through the crow, causing her eyes to glow scarlet for a second.

Those fresh memories of that sudden loss mix with the guilty images of that crow tengu's rival forced death at the hand of Aya herself, and the black-haired girl grips her maple-leaf fan with all her strength to channel her fury.

"Can't. that. BITCH. STAY **DEEEEEAAAAAAD**?" furiously screams the tengu girl as though wanting her monstrous rival to hear her.

Before Satori can even begin a calming speech or make a warm contact, the girls look up to what's left of the roof and gasp, horrified at the sight of zombie Reimu looking down on them with both grey eyes with those black dots back in their sockets, looking as though someone just restored her.

Before either girl can react, they notice something lying next to the zombie shrine maiden, and quickly realizing what it is both girls scream.

"KOGASA!" cries Aya, while Satori simultaneously cries "no! Leave her alone!"

The zombie girl bends her knees, grabs the karakasa's stiff and pale body by the back of the head, and while showing her trophy off to the girls she taunts "you want her back? You can try and get her, but you won't. She's MINE now."

The two girls growl and ready their weapons.

Though they know well that they have very little chances of success, it won't stop them from fighting to take back their former partner's body away from that monster's decaying hands.

* * *

><p>Zombie Reimu stares at the defiant girls, and somehow seems to smile, even though all that is left of her mouth is a fleshy hole and an exposed bloodied skeletal mandible.<p>

"You're getting used to game," hisses the zombie maiden, then she wraps her decaying hand around her precious trophy's waist and says "the master has no need for you. KILL!" and then she flies away to the west.

"COME BACK HERE," demands the furious tengu, shooting several bullets after the zombie maiden.

"Look out," desperately calls the satori maiden after three bangs rattle the whole house.

Aya is tackled from the left, Satori is pushed back, and then they can see zombie Sunny readying her claws and rushing after them as they forcefully fly backward.

By some divine miracle the girls manage to recover while in mid-air and flash the zombie fairy's sides, making her screech and run away from them, and allowing them a somewhat safe fall.

The crow girl skids on her seat before rolling twice, and the mind-reader falls flat on her face and skids a few inches forward.

"Oww, are you alright?" asks the reporter while rubbing her butt.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow. This stings," whispers the purple-haired girl while holding her nose, and then she looks at her partner and nods.

In front of them stand the zombie Fairy Trio, and it is apparent they are eager to kill.

Sunny's face is now completely rotten, her teeth have turned jagged, and her skeletal arms come with razor-sharp claws.

Luna and Star stand uncovered, having lost their clothes from that disgusting mutated fusion, and now these indecent zombie fairies show off their decaying grey skins.

Luna has a hole the size of her own head on her chest that goes through to her back, and oozes a reddish-black substance that looks more like gunk rather than blood.

Star has a large vertical gash on her chest going down to her stomach, her shriveled organs seem to have dried up just outside said wound on her fungi-ridden flesh, her left arm looks long but useless, and all three reveal their jagged bloodied teeth as they smile at their victims.

"This time we win. This time we eat," hisses Star Sapphire with glee.

Luna Child, with a high-pitched hiss says "we kill you, master praise us. Makes us happy!"

Sunny Milk hisses and roars while swinging her claws accurately in front of herself, and quickly the trio spread out.

They look like grey blurs to the girls, save for Sunny, who still has her red and white clothes, and while zipping around one of the zombie girls whispers "birdie girl is waiting for her master."

"Don't fall for the taunt!" screams Aya while pressing her back against her mind-reading friend.

Satori gulps, sniffles, then nods and says "we'll have to use bullets again!"

From the tengu's side one of the zombie girls says "ha~! Umbrella goes to tasty cat-girl. Plop into fire! BURN!"

The reporter raises her fan and generates a strong tornado, trapping the three zombie girls inside where they roar furiously, and then she and the purple-haired girl shower the zombies with several flashes before having to move outside the broken building to avoid getting caught by the collapsing structure.

The air pressure caused by the small tornado is enough to cause yet another portion of the mansion's roof to crumble down and bury the fairies underneath the debris.

Silence once again rules the mansion grounds; smoke rises from the collapsed pieces of roof, and as said smoke cloud dissipates the tengu reporter asks "are they dead?"

"No," calmly sighs Satori, then points at the mess and says "they are probably waiting to ambush us again."

Before long the three zombie fairies burst out of the debris and fly straight at the girls.

Zombie Sunny flies at high speed between the girls and lifts a thick dust cloud that blinds them.

Seconds later the two live girls grunt when they fall on their backs, and groan when they find themselves pushing naked decaying zombie fairies by the shoulders to avoid getting bitten on the necks.

They both struggle hard to push back those savagely snapping jaws while touching that smelly, slimy grey skin, making both feel as though their stomachs are about to turn over.

Aya flips backward and turns over, lands on Luna, then quickly flashes the little monster to stun her and kicks her on the rotting ribs as soon as she's up, cracking a few of those in the process.

"Help!" cries Satori after seeing her friend is up, then the tengu gladly flashes Star and kicks her off the mind-reader.

"Phew! Thank you so much," sighs the satori maiden while being helped up on her feet, then tries to dust away the stain of the fairy's blood from her shirt to no avail.

They smile at each other again, happy to learn they are alright, then the mind-reader gasps, grabs her tengu friend and embraces her tightly, saving her from Sunny's vicious tackle, then both girls watch as the airborne fairies regroup in the sky and prepare to dive.

"Shoot them," calmly says the black-haired reporter while raising her fan.

The confused satori releases her friend and stares in surprise, then the tengu reporter turns her head with a smile and says "trust me."

Showing no more hesitation, Satori shoots several bullets to the air as soon as Aya starts shooting some from her swinging fan.

The fairies shriek and try to stop, but their momentum is too great.

They crash against the curtain of bullets, fall flat-faced on the ground, and before they can recover and get back up, the two girls stand at point-blank range and shower the zombies with flashes.

They stop their attack after they are sure those fairies aren't even twitching, look at each other intensely, and as if agreeing on some unspoken, or unthought-of declaration, they run straight toward the west, chasing after zombie Reimu and the body of their dear friend.

* * *

><p>A tengu kick gets a human zombie on the head after getting in the girls' way shortly after they start their run.<p>

Steeled determination has taken over the fear these girls were feeling just a few hours ago, but their anxiety and desperation is still there, and right now those two feelings mix when they repeat the sight of Kogasa on zombie Reimu's hands over and over in their minds.

"Grrr! That bitch!" furiously exclaims the enraged tengu.

The satori maiden quickly peeks into the girl's mind and sees the zombie maiden through the reporter's own vision several houses away from where they currently are, waving as though inviting the girls to catch up.

"I think. she's leading us. into a trap," pants Satori while trying to keep up.

"That's what pisses me off," quickly replies Aya, growling with every breath she takes.

"Please, calm down or you're going to-"

Before the mind-reader can finish her sentence, she chokes on herself, and she and the tengu reporter skid to a stop with great effort, and though they try to hide it, the loss of color from the skin on their faces reveals the horror they are feeling.

Before them lies a huge pile of giant roaches, centipedes and crickets that have just burrowed their way from beneath the soil, and all seem eager to attack.

"Flash," manages to squeak the satori, and both girls twitch with disgust and fright as each and every one of those disgusting bugs become dust after being flashed once, screeching loudly while their bodies disintegrate.

After the last bug is gone, three of those screeching black spiders jump right out of the hole and hiss, then shoot a foul-smelling and poisonous yellow web the girls dive down to dodge.

From the ground they bravely shoot their flashes at the spiders as relentlessly as they can, but the creatures quickly stop their attack and dive into the hole.

Aya looks above herself and her friend, then exclaims "s-seems they finally grew a brain and decided to live. N-no webs above."

Satori grunts and moans as she pushes herself on her knees and collects her thoughts.

She looks to the ground, notices a few grains and pebbles jumping around on the dirt road near her friend, then gasps and shouts "AYA, MOVE!"

The black-haired girl rolls immediately, and during mid-roll she gasps and shouts "JUMP!"

From beneath the ground where the tengu reporter was, the misshapen image of Wriggle Nightbug bursts her way out from underground in a failed attempt to drill the girl in half, while from the sky the blood-spilling body of Mystia Lorelei drill-dives to where the purple-haired girl was, attempting a similar outcome for the mind-reader.

"We missed!" furiously hisses the bug-girl, quickly hopping behind the hole left open by her giant buddies, followed by the decaying night sparrow.

The girls spring on to their feet, raise their flashing weapons, and then quickly take another dive to avoid the spearing roaches Wriggle throws at them with her bare hands.

Said youkai's short hair is missing many patches, her eyes look like that of a fly, her mouth keeps secreting a poisonous, smelly, slimy purple fluid, and her claws look like the hairy tips of a spider's sharp legs.

Her skin has turned greenish-grey, her pants are broken by the knees, her left leg has had its skin and chunk of muscle peeled from the thigh down and continues to dangle from the foot, and her inside shows no bone or blood.

Instead there's an odd yellow mush, and what looks like a semi-solid blue goop for bones.

Mystia has lost her left wing, her right wing looks like a single sharpened bone with just a few feathers clinging on the bit of skin hiding underneath.

Her vest has been ripped to shreds and half of her skirt is missing, and the rest of her body, though skinned with a grey fungi-infested cover, keeps spilling dark blood through various cuts.

The claws on her hands look as sharp and deadly as ever, her eyes have turned greyish black, and hiding behind those grey lips are a set of very nasty-looking yellow blood-stained teeth, visible when the zombie sparrow opens her mouth to hiss and growl.

Again the girls spring on their feet and square off against the zombies, then Wriggle points and hisses "you not pass us. Master happy when we take pretty heads!"

Even as disgusted as she is feeling, Aya snarls toward the zombies, readying both her fan and camera, then shouts "get out of our way!"

Satori gulps, a bead of sweat rolls down her forehead, yet she looks to her friend with brave eyes and says "we take them down fast! We HAVE to get Kogasa's body away from that thing!"

The reporter girl smirks confidently, raises her fan, and even though the zombies are already above their heads she continues to smirk while confidently saying "we won't let her get away."

* * *

><p>Both reporter and mind-reader jump away from each other at the last possible moment and narrowly avoid getting maimed by those sets of sharp-looking claws.<p>

They immediately shoot their flashes at their attackers and force Wriggle to hiss and retreat inside that hole, and Mystia to take flight, flapping that one wing and dripping blood to the ground below herself.

"How can she fly with just one wing?" asks Satori while keeping her eyes on the zombie night sparrow.

Aya jumps again to avoid the zombie bug queen's ground attack and shouts "I dunno! Magic or something! Just shoot," then flashes said bug girl before she can hide again.

She ends up diving again when zombie Wriggle jumps up and a large centipede crawls out of the bluish slimy bone, smeared in said substance.

"ARGH! DISGUSTING!" cries the crow after some of that goop touches her skirt and clings on it like glue.

The satori maiden shoots a ring of small shard-bullets toward zombie Mystia and forces her to fall to the ground, but instead of flashing her, the purple-haired girl rushes to her friend and flashes the goop from her black skirt, making it fizzle and disintegrate, then says "don't lower your guard like that."

The reporter grabs her friend by the shoulders, pushes her to the side and flashes both zombie sparrow and the goop-covered large centipede and says "don't turn your back on your enemies."

Zombie Mystia crashes on the same tree where zombie Keine's body lies underneath after those horns and that tail disappeared, while Aya and Satori stare at each other defiantly.

Their lips stretch into smiles, a chuckle escapes the crow tengu, and immediately the girls press their backs against each other while aiming their weapons toward their attackers.

The black haired reporter swings her fan and creates a small tornado that stops zombie Wriggle's sudden pounce, while the purple-haired mind-reader unleashes a weaker version of her Brain Fingerprint spell, and using her partner's traumas she sends a ball of light straight at the still-recovering zombie Mystia.

The zombie night sparrow notices the attack and tries to claw the ball to no avail, yet nothing happens when it touches her.

She opens her disgusting mouth to roar and the bright ball of traumas expands and explodes into a powerful blinding flash.

"NO!" roars zombie Wriggle, who flails furiously inside the small tornado, then the tengu shoots a single bullet that blows the zombie bug's right eye, staining her dirty white shirt, yet the bug doesn't even seem to notice.

She ignores the loss of her eyes and manages to fly out of the tornado, and rushes toward her ally, which, to the girls' surprise, lies on the ground surrounded by several dead centipedes and giant roaches.

Zombie Wriggle holds a roach, a centipede, and kneels beside Mystia, then roars at the girls and says "you pay for this!"

"**BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

Aya twitches and quickly looks around for the source of zombie Hatate's voice, which sounds too close for her comfort.

At that same moment the zombie bug-girl repeats with a roar "you pay for this... if you alive later," then she takes off to the west between houses after having left a visible bite on the bodies of both her zombie bird ally and the zombie teacher nearby.

Ignoring the bug, Satori turns around and grabs her partner by the shoulders and exclaims "not now! Aya, I can't take her on my own, I need you to stay strong!"

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUUUUU!**"

The monstrous girl's roar comes from even closer, and the black-haired tengu is doing all that she can to keep her mind from freezing with fear and guilt yet again, even going as far as using the images of Kogasa's fall to replace her fright with rage.

"Shameimaruuuuu! **BIIIIIIIITCH**!"

But it fails, and now even the satori is looking around with eyes widely open with fear after hearing a thump on the left, then a thud on the right.

Hatate is close, but she's moving around erratically, yet making almost no sound save for a few bumps on nearby roofs, which can only mean she's above them.

"Look out!" yelps the purple-haired girl as she grabs her tengu friend and pushes her away from the zombie's aerial attack.

Now zombie Hatate stands where the girls stood only a second ago, staring with those scarlet-glowing eye sockets toward her rival while pulling her fist out of a small crater she just made on the ground.

Aya glares back, faking the bravery she clearly lacks at the current moment, and her body spasms and shivers while she tries to keep herself balanced and ready to attack.

"Biiiiiiiitch," softly roars the girl while pointing a claw straight at the reporter's head.

"Stay back you freak," threatens Satori while raising her third eye.

The zombie twitches her hand and the satori maiden flashes her without question, making her roar furiously while rubbing the empty sockets on her face.

The mind reader quickly grabs her friend's arm and commands "come on-HYAH!", but the moment she turns around to run she feels a strong pressure on her left cheek, and now finds herself on the ground several feet away from the tengu after that powerful punch from the zombie.

Aya screams and the purple-haired girl finds the strength to push herself back on her feet, regardless of the dizziness she feels.

Her tengu friends has been bitten on the collarbone and is currently struggling with the zombie, grasping her neck and pushing her and her sharp teeth away while flashing whenever she can yet accomplishing nothing, but it is obvious this struggle won't last when the mind-reader feels the tengu girl's fear escalating.

Satori runs to her friend and shouts "leave her alone you monster," then hurriedly positions her third eye an inch away from Hatate's face and flashes the zombie girl with as much power as she can spare.

Zombie Hatate hisses and screeches while holding her face with one hand and swings her other around in rage.

The purple-haired mind-reader follows her attack and flashes the zombie tengu some more, ducking and avoiding that flailing claw as best as she can.

Aya quickly sits up, winces from the pain of her fast-healing collarbone, then look upon Satori as she fights that zombie Hatate, and images of that turquoise blur defending her on that barn return to her.

"NOOOO~!" rages the tengu. She gets on her feet and rushes forward to help her friend, flashes the flailing girl with her camera, then quickly finds herself being tackled away.

The air is pushed right out of her body when the surprisingly sharp shoulder of Hatate strikes her stomach and sends her flying straight against a nearby house.

She breaks the porch's support beam and half of the ceiling comes crashing down on her, pinning her underneath.

"AYA! Hold on," calls the satori maiden as she rushes to the crow's aid, but she stops and gazes forward with a dumbstruck look.

Her tengu friend has pushed that piece of roof off herself with her legs and has a furious expression on her.

The mind-reader sighs with relief when she sees her friend is alright, but then remembers Hatate after the sound of flesh impaled rings on her ears.

"Goddammit, no! Not again," whispers Aya when her eyes are cursed once again with the sight of Hatate killing yet another of her friends, and she screams "not AGAAAAAAAAIN!"

The zombie's hand has pierced through Satori's body from her back, stained with so much of the girl's blood it drips almost unnaturally to the ground along the bit the youkai coughs out of her mouth, and in an instant that hateful zombie pulls her hand out of the satori and pushes her down on her own blood pool.

Aya Shameimaru's face turns red as she screams with all she has left inside of her and before she even realizes what she did, she's jumped off that porch and now tries to tackle Hatate on the chest.

The zombie is too nimble and the black-haired tengu misses, then zombie Hatate sinks her claws on the reporter's right shoulder and pulls hard, sending the girl flying backward several feet, though not before ripping off half of her shirt.

Her bleeding shoulder starts to heal, and now the right side of her large pink bra, which is absorbing some of that blood, is bare to the eyes of the world; but she doesn't care.

All she wants is to kill that incredibly annoying and resistant zombie in front of her; the crow tengu reporter craves revenge above all else, and she will not stop until she gets it.

She tightens the grip on her camera, takes an offensive stance with her fan held above her head, her eyes glow with intensity and rage, and in an instant she stands besides her target.

She swings her fan and sends a mixture of bullets with a large tornado, and while Hatate screeches from the bullet explosions and spins in mid-air Aya stealthily shoots a flash.

The second the zombie falls free from the tornado the enraged tengu reporter appears next to her.

Hatate quickly sands, roars and attacks, aiming her claws at the living girl's shoulders and her teeth to said girl's neck.

The right claw hits its mark, but the bloodied left claw never makes it.

Aya holds the zombie's arm, glares as her undead rival snaps her mouth in many failed attempts of taking a bite off Shameimaru's face, and in a swift move the living tengu girl is behind the undead monster and has broken the joint of the zombie's shoulder, signaled by a disturbingly loud crack.

She pulls the arm, ripping it off its joint and breaking the rotting flesh with ease, and then shouts "I hate you so much you bitch! YOU WILL PAY!"

Before zombie Hatate can try to take a bite off the black-haired reporter again, said girl swings the zombie's own clawed arm and thrusts the rotting nails inside her face.

This seems to cause real pain to the zombie.

She roars and screams, she writhes around like a wounded wild animal, but she gets no pity from the living tengu girl.

Aya kicks the zombie on the head, knocks her to the ground and takes her camera to mercilessly take many bright-flashed photos, and doesn't stop; not even after zombie Hatate has expired; until she feels satisfied.

* * *

><p>With her frightful, undead rival defeated once again, Aya explores the damaged caused to her and promptly realizes all the claw wounds are gone, but now she only has half a shirt.<p>

"_Well, there aren't any peeping perverts around, so I shouldn't concern myself,_" she thinks as she walks over to Satori.

From the distance she can see the wound on her friend is healing, and unlike their former partner, there are no yellow veins surrounding the bloodied spot.

This settles the girl's nerves and helps her rapid-beating heart to slow down.

She kneels next to her mind-reading friend, sniffles, and softly cries "I-I'm sorry I froze again. How are you feeling?"

The purple-haired girl is fine, her wound is almost completely healed, but now her shirt has a brand-new hole, and the cuts on her right sleeve have grown, thus making its cover useless.

However, now it's not the time for fashion.

The satori maiden coughs and immediately winces and whines, so the tengu shushes her to calm her down and places a hand on her friend's head.

"It's ok," softly coos the girl to her hurt friend. "Here, let me take that backpack so you can rest."

"No," commands Satori as she forces herself on her seat, even though her face twists with pain as she moves.

She rips off the useless sleeve, then throws it away and says "the pain is subsiding. Please help me up, we have to save Kogasa's body."

Aya wants to keep her friend on the ground so that she may rest, but when she sees that ground trembling below her she picks up the satori girl like a princess and jumps away.

A few seconds later the one-eyed zombie Wriggle burrows out of the ground with her bug-leg-like sharp claws snapping furiously in a clap attack, aiming to maim the girls' bodies, but her targets are already gone.

"Shit, me missed!" curses the zombie bug, then she turns around and growls furiously upon the sight of the black-haired girl carrying her purple-haired partner away toward the west.

"It's ok Miss Aya, I can move by myself. Put me down," yells the blushing, embarrassed mind-reader when laying eyes upon her friend's filled-to-capacity pink bra.

Noticing this, yet not really concerned for that at the moment, Aya says "as soon as I find some high ground. If I stop right now that undead bug will get us. Just shoot to keep us safe! Like we did before when escaping the shrine."

The satori girl looks away from the tengu's face with embarrassment, but quickly registers what Aya said and looks ahead.

Zombie humans and fairies seem to be waiting for them on the road ahead, and the hissing and aggressive moaning is a good indication that they are aware of the girls' presence.

"This is gonna be hard," says the tengu while holding her camera near Satori's thigh, "but I'll do my best too."

Her eyes darken as she continues running and adds "I froze back there, again. I'm sorry about that. This should make up for letting you take that hit."

Satori looks to the crow tengu's face and sees the guilt flash in her eyes.

She prepares her third eye and as soon as the decaying fairies gets close she flashes three of them at once while loudly saying "stop blaming yourself. I understand this isn't easy, and I will probably freeze too if we ever come across Orin or Okuu, or any of my pets. When that happens, please be by my side and wake me up any way you can."

The crow girl smiles, and while she and he friend casually flash a couple of zombie humans she nods and says "I promise, I'll be there."

They smile toward each other after the promise, then frown the moment they find themselves suspended in mid-air between two small houses, disoriented and unable to understand what exactly happened, Aya upright with her arms raised above her head, and poor Satori almost upside-down, unable to hold her skirt up and showing off her tight black shorts.

"Well, well. Trapped like bugs little bird and eye-girl," sinisterly hisses zombie Wriggle as she calmly walks over to the trapped girls suspended in mid-air, surrounding herself with several giant grey crickets with snapping pincers for mouths.

"Wh-what just happened?", asks the confused mind reader as she tries to move, unable to do so, unable to fall.

Aya grunts as she struggles to break free while furiously saying "Grr, what is thi- ...Oh shit! Spider webs!"

"Correct," hisses the zombie bug queen as a large centipede coils around her left leg, covering that disgusting peeled chunk of skin.

A disgusting-looking dark-brown butterfly with wings that look like it has four eyes on each wing-tip docks on zombie Wriggle's right eye and eats through its remains, gushing black blood all over the zombie's already stained shirt, then settles on the now-empty socket, adding a menacing look to its master.

Smiling, zombie Wriggle points at the girls and says "my babies set trap. They are good. They eat your insides for good work. Now, kill for master!"

Several of those red zombies, some visibly females, the surrounding remaining human zombies, and the zombie bug-queen surrounded by large grey crickets approach the trapped girls, moaning and drooling either blood or some questionable yellow substance as they anticipate the meal they are about to partake.

Aya and Satori grunt as they struggle to break free from the invisible web that holds them while their captors get closer, but all their attempts end in vain.

The tengu manages to free her camera arm, quickly aims and flashes the monsters, forcing them all to back away and some to fall, but not Wriggle

The zombie bug raises her furious greenish-grey face and shouts "KILL!"

A massive buzzing yellow beam covers the entirety of the ground in front of the trapped girls, turning every single deceased monster into ashes in just seconds.

"NOOO~! She was aliiiive!" screams zombie wriggle as she is slowly vaporized from her feet up, and as suddenly as the beam started, it stops.

Aya frees her other arm and desperately looks for something to use to pull herself free, then freezes when a familiarly soft and sinister voice says "well, look what we have here. A crow and a mind reader caught in a little invisible web. How fitting."

The woman stands several feet away, pointing her pink parasol forward, sending a powerful flash that kills several black and brown spiders, making them screech as they turn to goop on the ground, and reveals the sticky web to the girls.

This woman has short green hair adorned with a sunflower on the left, red eyes, wears a red plaid vest over her white brassiere, which is stained by a line of blood that seems to trail across her right shoulder like a belt, her plaid pants have been ruined, and while the right leg still covers just above her knee, the left leg has been torn from the upper thigh.

She lowers her parasol, raises one foot at a time and taps each brown boot twice with it, then smiles at the trapped girls and says "well don't just hang around ladies, come on down here and thank me properly."

Satori grunts after trying to pull her arms free, then whimpers after failing, while Aya grunts as she violently writhes around and furiously shouts "we've been trying to break free this whole time, but we're **STUCK**, can't you see that? GET US DOWN PLEASE!"

Yuka Kazami stares nonchalantly at the girls, sighs, shrugs while grinning, and then says "well, you did say please, so I supposed I can help you out this once."

* * *

><p>Finally free from their entrapment, the girls sit on the ground while facing the grinning flower youkai and recovering their breaths.<p>

"Thanks," sighs Satori. "One would think that after getting caught by Yamame's webs so many times I'd be an expert escaping those."

"Or noticing them," says Aya with a smart-ass grin and a quick chuckle.

The purple-haired girl looks at her partner and casually replies "I wasn't the one running," which causes the tengu cutie to choke and look away to hide her shame.

Smiling while staring at the girls with great amusement, the powerful flower youkai happily says "well, you are safe. That will be my good deed for this century. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off~."

She turns around and waves her hand in the air then the tengu reporter grabs the flower master's leg and asks "where are you going? Aren't you staying with us?"

The green-haired woman turns around with an ominous smile, and as though having been elegantly insulted she says "goodness, no! You girls would just cramp my style."

Even the satori maiden raises an eyebrow after hearing that reply, even though she knew this was coming beforehand.

Aya stares angrily and desperately shouts "are you nuts? Wouldn't it be more prudent to stay together with other survivors? C-come on, you can't just turn your back on us like that!"

Again Yuka smiles, though a little more naturally than before while cooing "but I can't possibly join a team of girls that can't take care of one of their members, let alone themselves."

An awkward silence dominates the area until Yuka impales a snarling zombie fairy with her parasol while it flies overhead, then flashes it with a seemingly harmless and small version of her Master Spark.

Still smiling when she returns her sight to the girls she notices the crow tengu's and the mind-reader's disappointment and sighs.

"Look, you two are doing fine because you are immune to all of this whole... being a zombie thing, but that is all."

She looks into Aya's red eyes and can see the fear the tengu is trying to hide with that brave mask and says "I see. You need a bodyguard. Someone strong to watch your backs and do grunt work. Well I'm sorry, but I refused to end up like that cute karakasa."

"**Kogasa!**" desperately exclaim the two girls before Yuka, after being reminded of their current mission.

The satori maiden springs on her feet while the tengu girl forgets about the flower youkai and turns around to run after zombie Reimu and the kidnapped body of their fallen friend.

The flower youkai sighs with annoyance, and with a quick swing of her turned-around parasol she stops the tengu girl and pulls Satori's underarm with the hook-handle, then smiles again.

Aya quickly shouts "what the **hell** is your damned problem! We have to save Koga-"

Both girls quickly flinch after Yuka's eye-glowing intimidation works its charm.

"Reimu won't take her far," she casually says, noticing the surprised and confused glances from the girls.

"You two idiots have been doing just what she wants. She's luring you into yet another ambush, and if you fall into one of her tricks again I will refuse saving your cute and sorry little asses."

Surprisingly enough, the satori maiden furiously shouts "that is enough! Just tell her why you don't want to join, and while you're at it why don't you tell us what you were taking about with Akyuu before we got there!"

Even Aya is shocked at the sudden outburst of her partner but keeps quiet, wanting to hear what that flower master has to say.

Yuka sighs, rubs her forehead, then says to herself "right, she reads hearts and thoughts," then honestly and casually replies "there was someone else with us, but she kept hiding outside; the one that asked us to wait for you. We did wait for you to come, but you were taking far too long. Hell, I even had to rush that explosive spell to save you three from those monsters. Seriously, how are you even alive?"

After a quick pause, she continues "Akyuu, that other woman, and I, we were considering our options on how to deal with this zombie mess when that woman threw your names at us. That Hieda girl was thrilled with the plan, but something inside her snapped when I destroyed her mansion to save **you.**"

Aya and Satori both twitch, causing the flower master to grin and continue "ah, that got your attention. Well, maybe the shock of seeing that new hole on her mansion made her lose what little willpower she had left to remain a thinking being. Well, whatever the reason was, we left her, and you managed to find her in time. Well, sort of."

The reporter clicks her tongue with annoyance and growls "I wasn't aware we had a damned time limit."

The deceivingly sweet woman smacks the tengu girl on the head with her parasol and sweetly sings "quiet~", then lowers her tone and sounding dangerous she adds "I am still quite angry at you."

Again she sees how the two girls raise an eyebrow in confusion, and then casually continues "**I** have been fighting these monsters and enjoying every second of it. Of course, seeing my precious flowers turn to hideous creatures wasn't fun but," she shrugs and finishes "oh well."

"At first I killed the zombies and they kept coming back, until I learned my beautiful Master Spark killed them all in one shot. Oh, I was so _thrilled_ I had to test more and more attacks. Seriously, you should mix bullets with light. **_It does WONDERS_**!"

She looks at the puzzled girls with disgust and continues "but you two. What a mess you are. Seriously, if it had been me I'd have killed that fire bird and that snotty princess when I had the chance."

This particular comment gives Aya a well-earned right to look at Satori with an '_I told you so_' look.

Yuka sighs again, stares straight at the two girls and says "I seriously thought you were doing alright, even after that blunder with the immortal bamboo girl, but then I saw that face you made, Miss Seventeen-Years-Old reporter. The way you froze and lost all your nerve, just because your birdie buddy called you a _bitch_. Seriously, she has issues to work out, but so do you."

She walks over to Aya, grips her by the collar of her shirt, then threateningly says "and then, after all the trouble I went through to stop that bug and that bird from getting to you," she lifts the tengu with ease, even with Satori trying to pull her arm down, and furiously shouts "YOU WENT AND FROZE A SECOND TIME LIKE SOME WHINY LITTLE CHICKEN-BITCH AND LET THAT OTHER GIRL DIE IN YOUR STEAD."

Still pulling on the flower youkai's arm the satori maiden grunts "that's not fair! All three of us worked hard for each other! What Kogasa did for her was honorable and should be respect-gyah!"

A swing from Yuka's mighty arm sends both girls flying backward, successfully cutting the satori's speech short, then the flower youkai furiously says "and YOU! You are such a WEAKLING! Always relying in the strength of others, unable to do physical labor worthy of a youkai because you are just a sheltered little brat, sitting on your butt all day, reading books and your playing with your pets!"

"You sick bitch! You don't have to insult us just because of some mistakes! Nobody is perfect," demands the black haired reporter after managing to quickly stand and storm straight at the flower youkai with her fan raised.

The green-haired woman is struck by a tornado, yet remains standing as if nothing was happening, then uses her parasol to deflect Aya's incoming bullets with ease.

"It's. not. FAIR," shouts the furious tengu while shooting at the flower woman, then suddenly stops shooting and holds her knees to remains standing while saying "true, we have our weaknesses, but that's why we need to stay together! Each one of us can cover for the others' flaws!"

After Aya winds down and stops shooting, Yuka walks to her through the tornado, holds the tengu's chin and raises her sight, then sinisterly whispers "and that is exactly where you failed, dear. And now you know my reasons for not wanting to join you."

As soon as she's let go the tengu's sight drops to the ground, hiding her eyes with the shadow of her own hair.

Satori walks to her friend's side and places her hands on said girl's shoulders to try and comfort her, then turns a pleading face to Yuka and begs "won't you reconsider? Please, come with us."

"What's that? I can't hear you dear. You have to speak up," bluntly fakes the flower youkai.

She glares at the mind-reader, her eyes glow, and then sinisterly says "you understand this is now my alone-time, I'm sure. Good day to you, and be a little more vigilant. Oh, and if you need help with those invisible webs, then here's a hint. Wherever they are, you should notice a bit of a mist on the ground right underneath whatever is it they are clinging on."

The purple-haired girl nods in thanks and tries to pull the tengu away, but Aya stands in place and shouts "NO! I'm not leaving until this bitch apologizes for-AWAAA!"

With a simple twist from her grounded parasol Yuka summons a cluster of vines that trap both girls and swiftly flings them away to the west, then immediately shoots the vines down when the stems start turning brown.

After she's done, she sighs and turns around to face Hatate, who crawls on the ground like a wounded dog, pulling herself with her arms, both which look like nothing's happened to them before, and hisses "Shameimaruuuu. Biiiiiitch!"

"I'm so sorry little girl," playfully says the youkai woman in front.

She aims the tip of her parasol at the zombie face and smiles as a little orb of yellow energy forms in front of said weapon's tip and finishes saying "but you won't be bothering those girls, at least for a little while."

The blinding flash and raw power of her spell illuminates the whole area entirely, and after the light fades, both Yuka and Hatate are gone from the site.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Aya and Satori begin their decent from their forceful flight, screaming as their bodies get closer and closer to the ground, and with too much momentum.<p>

As expected, they slide when they land the unforgiving dirt road on their chests, bounce once, the tengu bounces on her head once more, the mind-reader ends up rolling sideways, then both finally stop when they crash against the solidly-built wall of a house.

They moan as they slowly get on their knees, inspect their limbs, and when she's sure she's not seriously hurt, Aya punches the patch of dead grass next to her and shouts "what the hell is the **problem** with that psycho flower bitch? Grr, if I ever see her again, I'm gonna-", and then she starts to sob.

"Why did she have to bring that up? That wasn't fair," cries the tengu girl while Satori wraps her arms around her, gently brushing her hair while sobbing "I know, that was hard. But c-crude as she was, Miss Yuka meant well."

A familiar and hated voice echoes from behind the girls "aww, what an endearing sight. Makes me laugh. Haha!"

"**REIMU!**" shout the two girls at once, standing up and glaring with teary eyes to the roof of the house behind them.

The zombie Hakurei maiden stands defiantly on the blue roof of the small house, holding Kogasa's stiff body like an ornamental item while pointing at the girls.

"I still possess her," hisses the zombie, raising her bony arm and declaring "you two are so pathetic! Can't understand why master wants you dead, but the order has been issued. Now, DIE!"

The tengu reporter growls and without thinking too much about it, takes her fan on hand and swings it toward the zombie girl, sending a large ball made of wind gusts and energy from her bullets.

Reimu did not expect such a swift attack, the evidence on her sudden gasp and unsteadiness when she tries to escape, and just as it seems she's free from the attack, Satori reaches her, riding one of Aya's gales, though a bit unsteady on it, and flashes the zombie maiden.

All three girls fall, though the tengu reporter is already waiting for her friend below and catches the mind-reader before she hits the ground.

The zombie maiden and the body of the karakasa youkai fall with a thud several feet away, and though her limbs are rotting, Reimu twirls like an acrobat back on her feet and readies herself for the inevitable battle.

Aya wastes no time and rushes straight at the zombie maiden, who just stands in place with her hands held up defensively.

"I'll make you **PAY dearly**," furiously declares the tengu reporter upon shooting blue bullets out of her left hand and clicking the camera's trigger.

The zombie maiden doesn't even flinch from either attack and grabs the girl's left arm with ease, then takes a vicious bite off the tengu girl's forearm, ripping through her flesh with those disgusting teeth and pulling off a chunk of bloody meat she enjoys chewing on.

Aya screams after having a piece of her forearm so viciously bitten off and tries to pull herself free from the zombie's grip, causing her blood to spill faster.

That force that prevented her escape soon subsides when Satori appears next to the zombie and flashes her twice using as much power as she can.

Reimu hisses and growls, grabs the satori maiden by the right arm and takes a bloodthirsty bite out of her exposed right shoulder, making the girl scream and cry as those teeth drill through her skin and reach her bones.

The zombie manages to rip some skin off the mind-reader, but the damage could have been much worse.

Aya has shot the zombie maiden on the back and pushed her off balance, allowing her friend to get away with just some peeled skin.

Satori drops on her knees just a few feet away from the zombie maiden, winces and holds her arm, squeezing it hard to try and assimilate with the pain of the ripped skin which has now started to bleed.

"Are you alright?" asks the tengu girl while holding her left elbow and blowing gently on her missing patch of flesh that's starting to reconstruct.

"Augh! I-it's stings, but I'll be fine," replies the mind-reader as her skin starts to heal.

"Bergh! The karakasa tastes bad," says the zombie girl with a pale piece of flesh in her mouth.

The immune girls look to where Kogasa's body is and can see a large bite on her cold right arm, then look at zombie Reimu as she chews on the missing chunk from the deceased girl's arm with disgust.

The girls bet that if that zombie had lips she would probably be smiling at their looks of shock and horror as she gulps down her meal, then says "the dead girl tastes pretty bad, but hits the spot. Now I'll eat you two and rid myself of this bad aftertaste. Master gave me permission after all."

She twitches in surprise when she looks at the girls, and instead of the horrified crying faces she was hoping to see, she gets something unexpected to her.

Though wounded and still shivering from the pain, the tengu and the satori in front of her shoot brave and resolute glares at her, raising their flashing weapons and preparing to pounce.

However their glares are quickly shot elsewhere when they realize they are now surrounded by several zombie humans and fairies, all varying with injuries, lost limbs, lost eyes, spewing purple or black ooze from their mouths, and leading the group are a slimy-skinned fetus-head with a blonde fetus and two red zombies that keep hissing threateningly at the girls.

One of these is a female wearing a kimono and has long red hair, her eyes bleed without stop, has a bite mark on her face, and somehow keeps her human looks, unlike the other that looks like a one-eyed hunched pirate with a blood-stained white beard.

"Our blood!" gasps Satori while trying to cover her wound with her hand after realizing what had attracted the extra zombies.

Aya turns around for a second to attempt a headcount, then gasps and turns around again to watch that detestable zombie maiden flying away with Kogasa's body yet again.

"Come back here you...** REIMU! Bring her back!**"

She's furious to the point of ripping her own hair, but as angry as she is the tengu reporter is still unable to bad-mouth or insult the shrine maiden she loves and respects.

The satori maiden can read so many of her partner's thoughts right now and would like nothing more than to comfort her and steel her resolve, however the decaying monsters are all moving toward them, so there's nothing she can do now other than to flash the monsters for dear life.

The furious reporter swings her fan, disregarding the pain she feels while moving that wounded arm, traps a small group of monsters in a small tornado, then moves around as fast as she can and flashes each zombie several times before moving on to the next group.

As soon as her tornado dies down, the several human and fairy zombies twirling lifelessly in it fall down to the ground, their heads and limbs break apart, one of the human's torso explodes as though having a bomb inside, and the rest bounce a few times before becoming a messy heap of rotting skin and blood on the ground.

While Aya keeps taking groups out on her own, Satori is faced by one of those red speedy zombies, and unknown to her, the disgusting monster with a fetus head has her on its sights and just stalks her from a safe distance while she fends off the red fiend.

"_It's fast but predictable. I hope, for my sake, that Yuka wasn't lying about this,_" thinks the mind-reader while looking around for that red blur that keeps circling around her, and then she closes her eyes, leaving herself open for attack.

The monster takes notice, stops for a second to position itself for the attack, and then launches itself straight at the satori.

The girl stands in place with her eyes closed, places her hands flat on top of the other in front of her chest, her frame glows with a faint light, and now the bearded creature stops in front of her with its dangerously large claw ready to cut her neck, only to be sent back by a powerful wave of oval bullets that glow faintly.

The monster roars loudly as the bullets disintegrate its clothes and dirty beard, eat through its rotting skin, open a hole on its chest and stomach that breaks right through its back, and then falls lifelessly on the ground spilling what little coagulated blood is left in its body.

Satori looks at a job well done, chuckles, and then loudly says "Miss-Aya, Miss Yuka was right! Adding some light to our bullets kills these things!"

The second red zombie, a red-haired woman wearing a long purple and white kimono, appears to the right of the youkai girl with its claw a mere inch away from said girl's neck, but Aya reaches the creature just in time and kicks her on the face, saving her friend.

The mind-reader gulps and holds her neck after reading the tengu's thoughts, then trembles and nods while saying "th-th-thanks. I-I owe you another one," then grabs a floating sheet of blue bloodstained paper that seems flew out of the zombie's sleeves.

Her tengu friend pants hard, holds her chest out of fatigue and manages to reply after a shake of her head "Kotohime. always. a pain. in my butt."

The concerned Komeiji grabs the reporter by the right arm and demands "Shameimaru, save your strength! Look how winded you are and we've only gotten rid of a few."

Aya manages a chuckle between pants, points behind herself with her thumb, and Satori gasps at what she sees.

The houses, the road, the grass, the bushes and the two nearby trees are all covered in pieces of skin, bones, teeth, eyes, and a coat of coagulated blood and other forms of questionable bodily fluids left behind by all the creatures the furious tengu destroyed on her own.

The satori maiden looks with awe at her friend and exclaims "you crazy bird! You are insane!"

The crow girl's reply is a loud gulp while she points forward, then finally manages to say "two more! Haff! Need a breather!"

Satori turns her sight to the remaining monsters, quickly stuffs the blue sheet in her backpack, and then places her hands behind her third eye.

It looks like the disgusting monsters are wise to the maiden's plan, but long before they can move the quick tengu reporter swings her fan with the rest of her strength and sends a tornado that stops their quick march after trapping its targets within.

This gives the purple-haired girl the chance to run up-close and flash them with all she's got several times, and when that gale dies the monsters' bodies fall to the ground, though only zombie Kotohime breaks apart and bleeds after bouncing hard once upon hitting the ground.

Having dealt with the ambush, the winded tengu drops on her butt and chuckles between pants, while her satori friend kneels beside the crow girl to inspect the wounds.

"As expected; both our wounds are gone," softly says the mind-reader.

The crow tengu lets herself drop on the sort-of clean dirt road and speaks between pants "lemme. rest. a bit. Then we. go chase. that Reimu!"

Again she refuses to insult the zombie maiden, and can't hide the hurt feelings evident in her eyes, but this time her friend is close by and places a warm hand on her shoulder to show her support.

* * *

><p>While sitting on the ground and recovering their breaths Satori takes the blue sheet of paper from her backpack, then holds it between herself and Aya so she can read along.<p>

_... at I somehow suppressed this virus and slowed its progress to a grinding halt. That doesn't mean... ...so I best be careful._

Pausing for a moment, the crow tengu points at the illegible smudged words and says "this person should use tengu-brand ink. Seriously, her notes would last a year, and not even rain would smudge it ...so much."

The cute mind-reader silently glances the girl, then promptly resumes reading.

_But that's enough about me and my superior intellect. I found them!_

_The day I went to the Hakurei Shrine, they were there; the tengu from the mountain and the mind reader from underground hell._

_Apparently, they didn't know that these monster revive after a few days of being 'killed', and some even come back stronger._

_I found myself surrounded at the time, but luckily remained undetected, and to remain as such I thought 'RUN AWAY' as loudly as I could to alert the satori inspecting those bodies._

"So that's the stray thought I picked up," casually comments Satori.

Aya sighs and says "why can't they just join us? We're not that bad!"

_I felt a bit ashamed of keeping hidden and trying to use the distraction they caused to fly away, but as luck would have it, the giant turtle caught my scent and attacked._

_What a messy ...le. W- fought hard; that damned reptile didn't even flinch to my flash arrows, yet ...ow I beat it and scrammed._

_Now then, if I could just find my princess I could consider this day a glorious one, but I guess those two will have to do to brighten my day._

The last three sentences are stained in blood and are impossible to read, and now the girls glare at this piece of paper as though it's a hated enemy.

"Um, should I feel good, or bad about this?" hesitantly asks the crow tengu.

The satori maiden sighs, tears the paper into bits and pieces, and in an aggravated undertone says "surface dwellers are so damned selfish. Why couldn't she just help us?"

"Whoa, Satori, what's the matter?" concernedly asks the tengu in an ironic role-switch, where she is the one worried for her partner's state of mind.

"I'm sorry Miss Aya. I shouldn't have said that," softly says the girl, then she starts rubbing her bare shoulder and admits "first you, then that Yuka, and now this woman! You are all so selfish!"

The reporter scowls and snaps back "hey, that was uncalled for!"

The short-haired mind reader lifts her scowling hurt eyes and makes sure she's making eye contact while saying "you hated me when we first met, and I didn't care. Everyone hates me for reading their minds, but that's just what I do. I was brought to life this way!"

She quickly stands up and points an accusing finger at her partner before continuing "you even blocked your mind so I couldn't read it anymore, and... and!"

And she drops on her knees to the ground and cries "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Forgive me."

Aya sighs and thinks "_oh great, it's my turn to help her, but I'm just no good at this. Umm, let's see._"

"Ayayaya, seems some traumas just burst within you, huh?" asks the crow while contemplating on whether placing her hand on the girl's shoulder or not.

She decides to do it and winces when she feels the girl twitch, thinking she's going to hit her, but to her surprise the mind reader places her own hand on the tengu's and squeezes it gently, as though holding on while asking for support.

She finally recovers and straightens up, still holding Aya's hand against her shoulder, then exhales the crushing weight of her distress and says "I'm sorry. It's just that after reading this I got so angry."

Shameimaru closes her eyes and exhales, feeling as if some weight has just left her as well, then takes her hand away, stands up, lifts Satori with ease and sets her on the ground, then wraps her arm around the girl and says "alright, talk to me," while discretely walking the girl along herself down the road to the west.

Feeling a little calmer, the satori youkai sniffles and manages to speak "I miss my pets and my sister so much. I want to end this so I can go back home to them, to see them with my own eyes just as I remember them, not as undying abominations."

Aya can relate to what her friend says after remembering that detestable moment she saw Reimu as a zombie for the first time.

The purple-haired girl lets a quick sob escape her before continuing "Yuka is incredibly powerful, and this person we can assume is Eirin seems to know a lot about what's happening, and yet they ignore us; refusing to help us. I've been begging for help all this time, and they just go around on their own, playing hero, or something more stupid."

"Such is the world, Satori-chan," whispers the tengu under her breath while glancing toward her friend with pity.

The mind reader can't make out what the girl just said, but before she can ask a light thud catches their attention, and with flashing weapons held high, the girls turn around.

The monster with the fetus on the head stands several feet away with its mouth agape and its tongue dangling out of it, but instead of attacking it starts to convulse.

Before their very eyes the little blonde fetus gets absorbed into the head and the monster rapidly grows straight golden hair, a pair of large purple bat wings, and its eyes pop, releasing the blood for within and magically smearing all over its body and covering its muscles with slimy pale flesh, then grows a pair of purple eyes with black slits for pupils.

It takes a lewd womanly shape, its claws and fangs grow twice their old size, and by the time the tengu and mind-reader are ready to attack, it's done transforming and screeches at them, forcing them to hold their ears until it stops.

The satori gulps, looks to her crow friend with worry, then says "no wonder they are so tough. Those horrid monsters are vampires!"

The tengu clicks her tongue while glaring at the naked winged abomination and says "Kurumi. I have to wonder, what the hell is she doing down here at the village!"

The mutated vampire hisses at the girls, spitting globs of blood to the ground, spreads her wings as though showing off, and then vanishes from sight.

* * *

><p>She appears next to Aya, eager and ready to claw her face off, but Satori reacts quickly enough to flash, and in turn make the speedy tengu realize the danger and move.<p>

The claws hit the black-haired girl's right cheeks, but the cut is shallow and only trickles out some blood.

Without even flinching, Aya takes her fan and swings it on the vampire abomination's stomach and sends her flying backward against the wall of an already broken house.

Said house collapses on top of the vampire and the tengu girl immediately follows and attacks with a jump-and-stomp on the spot where Kurumi is, then said vampire thrusts her hands through the debris and holds the black-haired girl's legs.

"Got'cha bitch," growls the crow girl, then bends down and rips the piece of roof covering Kurumi's face.

Satori appears behind the vampire and flashes her eyes directly, making her roar in pain and hold her eyes in reflex.

The monster pushes the rest of the debris on top of her away with a few powerful kicks, including the two living girls who seem were expecting this.

Aya back-flips in the air once and lands on her feet, while Satori manages to fall on her feet, yet stumbles backward and falls, sending her left slipper flying a good distance away.

"Leave it," commands the mind-reader when her crow friend aims to catch it.

She points at the furious Kurumi and while stumbling back on to her feet says "we finish her first!"

The vampire has other plans and smiles at her victims, then disappears once again, this time turning into a massive mist that surrounds the entirety of the area.

Aya can't see her, Satori can't sense her, yet they feel her presence.

She stalks them from behind in a semi-translucent frame, moving slowly and raising her right claw.

She has the mind-reader at her mercy and winds her body to make her attack count, then a sharp piece of lumber flies between the girls and pierces the vampire's chest.

The mist vanishes, Kurumi hacks and coughs out a purple substance, yet she tries to attack, only to be flashed to her immediate temporary death by the tengu.

"GODS DAMMIT ALL! I missed!" screams zombie Reimu from the sky, holding several pieces of lumber and other junk around her left arm.

"Where's Kogasa?" demands Aya the second she lays her eyes on the zombie.

The deceased girl snarls and snaps her teeth, then tosses her collected junk to the air, reveals one of her corrupted yin-yang balls; now red and black instead of white and black; and pushing her power through it the energy shockwave forces the debris to fly straight at the girls.

The tengu grabs her satori friend and jumps away from the path of the scattered pieces, allowing them to stick to the ground, making a bed of wooden and metal thorns in the middle of the dirt road.

Reimu doesn't wait and flies down to attack the girls before they get up on her feet.

She's just a few feet away when she raises her claw, but Aya swiftly rolls from on top of Satori and both girls give the zombie maiden a quick flash that blinds her.

She covers her eyes and screeches a few curses, then rams against the only tree in the area, making a horrifying crunching sound upon impact.

The tengu reporter is the first to stand up to look, but immediately turns her horrified face away and holds her mouth to avoid throwing up what little food was left in her stomach, then rushes as far away from the scene as she can.

Satori looks and gasps, but doesn't feel as disgusted, but then she remembers what Reimu means to Aya.

The tree where the zombie maiden crashed is covered in the zombie's dark blood, pieces of flesh, and a bloodstained shard of her skull lie next to a massive greyish organ on a pool of blood, while on the tree's base lies the body of the zombie on top of the thick pool of coagulated blood.

The mind-reader studies the scene and feels great satisfaction towards the fate of that hated enemy, but then she remembers Aya again and gasps.

She quickly springs on her feet and runs toward her friend, calling out to her with great concern in her tone of voice, and quickly finds her crouching next to a bush with a pale face and teary eyes.

Aya looks up and forces a smile, then softly says "s-sorry. That was just too much."

She gulps and slowly straightens up, and with a weak smile she presents the mind-reader with her missing slipper, smiles and says "but look at what I found over here."

Her face fills with shock and surprise after something strikes her abdomen, yet she feels no pain or cold.

Instead she feels the warmth of Satori's embrace, and her eyes start to water.

"_A... a hug? Th-this one is, so different,_" thinks the shocked crow while standing stiff on the spot.

"_Sh-what should I do? I hate this, but I want more. I want it to last a little longer. It's so warm, but she's embracing me._"

"I know it must hurt so much," softly says the mind-reader "don't bottle those emotions. You saw what happened to me doing so."

"Ugh, I wake up and find you two going at it again? I'm seriously going to kill you and eat you whole."

The mocking voice of zombie Reimu makes the girls' back-hair stand on their tips, and the hug breaks with two surprised and angry faces that aim their fiery fury at the zombie standing behind them, looking as rotten as ever and in one piece.

Said monstrous girl places her hands on her waist, stares straight at the girls with those dots for eyes, and then throws several curse charms and swiftly moves, throwing a second and third volley in a few seconds.

Aya and Satori have to throw themselves to the ground and expect a follow-up attack, yet it never comes.

The estranged girls raise their heads wondering what happened, then they spot the zombie maiden running toward the west entrance and the reporter shouts "AFTER HER!"

They scatter on to their feet and give chase, and to their surprise, while running down that road, it looks like most of the zombies left in this path have been dealt with and find there's no need to stop.

The tengu grabs her partner's hand and increases her speed, managing to catch up to the zombie maiden, but before either girl can shoot a flash the zombie girl takes flight.

Aya starts to get tired, but even running as fast as she is she can't catch up to Reimu while she's flying over roofs and obstacles, so she slows down enough for Satori to pick up the pace, then lets her friend go and pants "keep. going. after. her!"

The zombie girl takes a sudden dive beside the house closest to the exit, then screams various curses before shouting "where. the fuck. is MYYY **TROPHYYYYYYY!**"

* * *

><p>The crow tengu and satori maiden quicken their pace and run around a decaying old house.<p>

There they find zombie Reimu patting a blood-stained patch of grass while rapidly muttering "but she was a slow one. She shouldn't even be moving. Where the hell did she go! RARGH!"

She claws the patch of grass, moves her body in a manner that makes the girls believe her head is too heavy for herself to move, then the maiden raises her head, points a claw at the girls and roars "YOUUUU! Where is my TROPHY!? She was MINE! Give it BACK, you thieves!"

Shameimaru gasps and recover her breath, then points at the zombie maiden and exclaims "you lost Kogasa? You STOLE her body and now you LOST it? Dammit Reimu, I can't forgive this!"

The zombie maiden snarls and shouts "I don't care about the game, I want you DEAD! NOBODY steals my trophies!"

Satori glances back and forth between the zombie and her friend, sighs, then says "even as a zombie, her accusations make no sense."

"WATCH OUT!" shouts Aya, then knocks the mind-reader to the ground and avoids a shower of tainted needles.

The tengu reporter quickly aims the camera and takes a picture, and then the zombie girl yelps and stumbles backward.

"We're getting to her," declares the satori youkai as she stands up and finishes "we just need to finish her off!"

"Oh, I'm on it," declares the furious reporter as she takes her fan from her belt and aims it toward zombie Reimu.

Said decaying maiden hisses and drools watery green liquid, then winds her back and spits unholy amounts of that green stuff.

Aya thinks of blowing that away with a swing of her fan, but her survival instincts get the best of her, and she and Satori jump and roll away from that.

They look back and observe how that liquid consumes the ground like acid until it's reached at least three feet of depth before fizzling away.

"That sick zombie! Where does she keep getting these abilities from?" furiously asks the tengu reporter, to which the satori maiden just shrugs and shakes her head, then swiftly takes her third eye and flashes Reimu on the face once more.

The zombie maiden screeches as she stumbles backward and rubs her face desperately, as if wanting to brush the flash off her rotten skin.

The black-haired tengu takes the chance and kicks the maiden on the shoulder and forces her to fall down, then rushes over to finish the job.

She aims her camera, she can take the shot, then the image of Reimu, the REAL shrine maiden, moaning and begging for help, flashes in front of her eyes and she hesitates.

Another mistake from her part.

The zombie maiden takes the chance and rushes a claw to the tengu's calves, but the crow girl is fast and manages to break out of her trance in time to dodge.

Zombie Reimu isn't about to give the girls the chance to retaliate again, so she takes several tainted needles and throws them at the girls' frames, instead of their faces.

Aya screams when she is sent flying backward against a lonely tree, and now is trapped by her skirt, her left sleeve pinned, and she can feel two of those needles brushing against the skin of her waist.

Satori yelps when the needles aimed at her force her face-up on the ground, trapping her left sleeve, both sides of her skirt, the left side of her waist, and one of those needles pierces through her right hand.

She groans when her blood starts spilling after trying to move that hand, then looks up at the towering zombie looking down to her while drooling all over her bare mandible and rotting chin.

"Get AWAY from her! Satori, I'll save you! Grr, just a-"

The tengu reporter struggles against the needles and quickly finds out there is very little she can do, save to watching that monster getting closer to her friend, then cries "Satori! Satori-chan! Flash her!"

The mind reader whimpers as she tries to break free without moving that right hand again, but the needles sap her strength and all the can do is look on as that snarling mouth and those rotting teeth get closer and closer to her neck.

She clenches her eyes shut and waits, but nothing happens, then Reimu punches her stomach and shouts "dammit all!", then walks away from the girls.

She paces back and forth while saying "but you gave the order! Why can't I- ...But that's NO FAIR! ...S-sorry master, I'm just hungry and- ...R-right."

She stops walking, stares at the girls, then says "you are LUCKY master wants to watch you some more, but cross me again and I WILL enjoy the taste of you FLESH, no matter what orders come in!"

And with that she takes to the sky, fuming and muttering furiously under her breath.

After the zombie leaves Aya desperately calls "Satori, are you there? Speak to me!"

The mind-reader is a little shaken, but manages to take her breath and shakingly reply "I-I'm ok," then winces and cries "Haugh! But this needle in my hand hurts!"

"Wait, don't move," commands the tengu, and as if knowing what to do she takes her camera with her free left hand and flashes the satori maiden.

The needles sizzle and slowly disintegrate, and as soon as the girl is free she quickly grabs her hand and blows on it in a failed attempt to subdue the pain.

Before Aya has the chance to complain, Satori stands up and uses her right hand to aim a strong flash on her partner with her third eye.

Free from the needles, the tengu reporter sighs with relief, and then the confused mind-reader finds herself embraced by her friend, though as sudden as it started, it ends.

The red-faced tengu looks toward the village's exit to avoid showing her blushing face to her satori friend and says "c-come on. The exit is there. Scarlet Devil Mansion, here we come!"

Satori is so shocked and surprised that she's forgotten the pain on her hand, and now stares at Aya as she walks over to the exit, and after realizing she's being left behind she dashes while calling "wait for me! W-we're a team, remember?"

* * *

><p>As the girls walk out that gate and finally leave the Human village behind them, their thoughts turn to Kogasa and her current whereabouts.<p>

"So," casually begins Aya "what do you think happened to Kogasa? Maybe she's turned already."

Satori twitches, looks at her feet, then says "I'm not sure. Reimu was muttering something odd about she being slow. B-but if she did turn, we might have to-"

The black-haired crow stops and covers her friend's mouth, her eyes hide under the shadow of her hair, then in a low tone of voice says "let's not think of that now."

She removes her hand and they resume moving forward, and now an awkward silence looms between them.

Aya breaks the silence first by commenting "say, there haven't been zombie attacks lately. What do you think happened?"

"Aya, look," eagerly says Satori while pointing to the left at a sturdy-looking green hut with a red roof.

The tengu girl tilts her head left while looking at the house, and she and her mind-reading friend approach the small-looking building as though in a trance.

"Wonder who lives here?" asks the confused crow, while the purple-haired girl uses the ring on the door to knock.

"Wait, what are you-?"

Shameimaru tries to argue with her friend's rash decision, but all that happens is that a rolled up letter falls from beneath the ring onto Satori's hand.

They open the letter and read with surprised eyes.

_Dear, um, no, not dear,_

_Look, just be **VERY** grateful I went out of my way to kill all those zombies waiting for you at the exit._

_Oh my, you two would have been overwhelmed in a minute, or less, being so weak and all!_

_Also, enjoy the comforts of my cute little hut. (Built it myself.)_

_Oh, do remember to place a charm, ward, or whatever on the wall as soon as you get inside, and don't make those faces._

_I know you want to save your precious and adorable little friend, but she's a big girl and she can take care of herself... sorta._

_You two have to take care of yourselves, so eat, sleep, meditate, do yoga or whatever, just rest for a day._

_Oh, and if you think disobeying me, remember this:_

**_I am keeping a watchful eye on you!_**

At the end of the letter is a drawing of a cute sunflower with jagged teeth eating a bird whole and stabbing an eye with its sharp leaves.

Dread takes over the girls as they finish reading Yuka's heart-warming and horrifying letter, their faces turn slightly blue, and with forced smiles on their faces they look at each other and simultaneously say "**We are quite exhausted, so let's go and rest.**"

They enter the tiny hut, which is surprisingly spacious inside, and Aya immediately takes a ward from her backpack and places it on the wall, flinching when said charm activates and shocks her hand.

The surprisingly spacious hut has a living room with a simple square table for two, small wooden seats, a small kitchen to the right, and further inside are two small rooms with twin-sized beds in the center and typewriters on the corners.

The girls sigh with relief upon laying their eyes on the relaxing cozy house, but before they can really sit back and relax, a powerful screech and several moans from the distance unsettle their nerves, reminding them that out there is that alien world that is trying to take their lives.

Safe but unsettled, the girls slowly remove their backpacks and glance around the hut, looking for any possible weaknesses that might let the monsters into their safe zone.

It's true they can eat and rest their bodies, but the looks they are giving each other right now raises the question as to whether they can rest their weary minds.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

AUG 15 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Again, I apologize if some parts were too cheesy, but it was a necessary evil, to show as clearly as possible how the girls' minds go back and forth. Expect to see some more cheesiness in future chapters, though I hope I become more experienced as a writer to lower the need of the cheese.**

**And man, I LOVED adding Yuka as a survivor. BADASS survivor. She doesn't seem to be that mentally stable, or perhaps she is, but she's clearly not a group per-er, I mean flower. I wonder if she'll eventually join? She DOES have some good points, but it's hard to tell with that youkai moe. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	6. Monster's Temple

_Lost Track of the date. Right-side bedroom of Yuka's Hut._

_And here I am again, typing my thoughts in a typewriter. As I type each key I can't help but wonder who's going to read these? And then I think of the Bunbunmaru, and believe the day **will** come when I will write another article for living, breathing, thinking people._

_So many things happened in the Human Village. We cried like weak humans, got attacked several times by insane undead youkai, human zombies, and then there was Reimu. She took Kogasa's body and claimed it like a trophy, and when Satori and I tried getting her back, she sends the fairy trio against us, **again**, a bug and a night sparrow youkai zombies, spiders, Hatate, and I swear if she had a kitchen sink she would have thrown that as well. Hmm, that felt clichéd. Um, anyway, we found out Yuka Kazami, that insanely powerful flower youkai, is also alive and killing zombies left and right like some sort of fun sporting event. She ignored our pleas for help, insulted us, rubbed salt in our wounds (figuratively speaking), and she even went as far as to blame US for Kogasa's death. At least it felt like that, but that wasn't... well I did freeze when Hatate came along and, then- I froze again when that bitch came around **yet again**, but this time I recovered fast. She almost killed Satori-chan and seeing that just made my blood boil. I didn't care about anything other than killing the bitch again with my own two hands. Thankfully my friend was safe. Heh, it's funny, but I can't help but call her "Satori-chan" now. After what happened with Kogasa, I don't know, I think... maybe I'm getting attached to this girl. Just... I just hate seeing her so sad._

_And speaking of her; I saw something I really didn't like. Satori-chan's eyes and face were spooky. She started saying I hated her, that she couldn't stand surface dwellers because we are all selfish. Um, she might be right, especially after reading that note from Eirin. Why couldn't she help us at the shrine? But still, what she said about me; that hurt. It's true, I learned to block my mind while thinking, but I didn't think she would take it as an offense to her. I don't hate her. I thought I did at first, but I'm slowly getting to know her and I just can't hate her. She's so kind and sweet and gentle. Ugh, that Yuka, calling her weak just because she is being herself and shoving that in her face like that! I've got a good mind to- no, wait, maybe Satori-chan was right. Maybe she's doing it forcefully, but when you think about Yuka is right. We need to get tougher. Ayayayaya! But we both love peace. It's not our fault we are who we are._

The door to the room opens and Satori's sweet voice rings as she sings "Aya-san~ it's almost time to-", but before the mind reader finishes speaking the edgy tengu takes her fan and buffets the girl with a powerful gust of wind that ironically knocks the air out of her friend.

The purple-haired girl is sent flying back through the open door, smashes the door to her own room open, then falls on her bed, bounces off and falls to the ground with a heavy thud.

"**Satori-chan**" shrieks the tengu reporter, who immediately gets off her bed and rushes to aid her friend, screaming "I'm so sorry! Satori, what did I do? I'm so sorry!"

Her friend remains on the floor, sobbing silently while holding her stomach.

Aya quickly holds her shoulders and gently lifts her up, whimpering "are you ok? Speak to me."

The satori youkai lifts her weary purple eyes and locks them on her partner's as she softly cries "why? What did I do this time? Why do you hate me so?"

"Nonono! I don't hate you! C-come on, read my mind! S-see for yourself!" desperately replies the black-haired girl as she gently sits her friend on the bed and tries to smile, though is far too unsettled to keep that smile steady.

The mind reader's eyes turn watery while she keeps them unblinking on Aya's and cries "why do you hate me so? What did I do?"

The tengu whispers "but I don't," and watches with teary eyes as her friend lies down on the bed on her side and hugs herself, repeating those same two questions over and over.

But she stops speaking and twitches when she feels her friend's warm hand settle on her head, and before she can turn around the feeling of bliss and relaxation fill her being when that hand starts moving slowly around her hair while the reporter whispers "I'm sorry about that. It was just a reaction. I don't hate you. Not anymore, I swear."

The purple-haired girl slowly drifts into sleep, and just before losing her consciousness to the overwhelming relaxation she smiles and whispers "I'm. glad."

The black-haired girl stares at her friend and at the torn right sleeve and thinks "_huh, we both lost the right side of our shirts *giggle* Coincidence? Ah, but that's not as troublesome as her slippers. Those might fall off again._"

Moments later, Aya is back in her room, using the typewriter while eating a rice ball made by Satori.

_Oh man, I just attacked Satori-chan, and all she wanted to do was tell me dinner was ready. But I swear, it was just a reaction. Don't know why I thought one of those monsters from outside entered the house, but my reaction seemed like an attack and she though I hated her. That poor girl. I don't understand why, but I really hate seeing her like that, looking at me like I'm someone unworthy of trust. I'll show her. I'll do my best to show her I don't hate her. Heck, I don't mind her reading my thoughts anymore. I smile now, thinking back a few days when I was the one with an unsettled mind, in need of pep talks and someone to calm me down. It's ironic that now I must help the one that's been helping me cope with this damned situation when I don't know how. Well, I think I did ok just now, and between you and me, her hair is surprisingly soft. I think I want to do that again, but don't tell her._

_This is the pure and honest Shameimaru Aya, age 17, with the truth always by my side. Um, I'm not really seventeen, but we'll just leave it at that._

And with those last letters printed on the piece of paper the tengu reporter takes the last bite off her rice ball, settles down on her bed, and even though she can hear moaning, hissing and laments of the many undead monsters outside, calmness claims her when she thinks "_Satori's here with me. I'll be... alright,_" and she promptly falls asleep.

* * *

><p>The next day, after having their lunches, the two girls exit the safety of the sturdy hut and walk back into the new world that is the undead and undying Gensokyo.<p>

The tengu reporter looks fresh, and something about her seems different as even her alert eyes appear focused, but the satori youkai's eyes look stressed, and she keeps looking around herself as though in paranoia.

"Are you sure you're alright? We can stay another day if you want," comments the tengu while looking at the back of her friend.

Satori twitches subtly, hiding her stress with every ounce of will in her, yet speaks casually as she replies "no, I'm fine. The sooner we're done with all of this mess, the better it will be for the both of us."

She takes another step forward while Aya closes the door to the safe little home, and when said tengu looks at her friend again she finds the purple-haired girl frozen in place and shivering so hard she looks like she's hopping without actually getting off the ground.

"S-Satori-chan?" calls the concerned reporter.

The mind-reader turns her violently shivering head as far as she can to look at her tengu friend.

Her eyes are completely unfocused and her lips wriggle without pause as she somehow manages to whimper "I-i-it's M-Mari-Marisa."

Without questioning or hesitating, Shameimaru rushes toward Satori and picks her up like a doll, then swiftly hops backward and tackles open the door into the hut with her back and quickly shuts it.

She shushes the whimpering mind reader and blushes while rubbing her hair, but both faces quickly freeze with fright and dread when they feel the witch's magical presence.

Exactly three seconds after Aya takes Satori back into the hut, Marisa, flying on her broom only three inches off the ground, casually hovers toward the village down the very road the girls were about to take on foot.

The black and white stop when she sees the hut and hops off her broom to brazenly approach it; looking around herself and the area, obviously waiting for magical traps that never appear.

And there she is now, standing right in front of the door as if nothing is happening, the skeletal hairless witch with her two eyeballs floating in front of their exposed sockets.

The confident zombie witch literally cracks a smile and mutters to herself "easier than Alice's house," and proceeds to open the door.

Her bony hand with decayed brown skin clinging on by a miracle isn't even near the knob when a jolt of divine energy pushes her far away and disappears as quickly as it attacked.

Understandably upset, Marisa hops on her feet and shouts "what the HELL is that crappy shitty magical attack! HEY! YOU IN THERE! Come on out!"

She pauses for a moment to await a reply, but it never comes, so the witch quickly takes off her hat, revealing her bald brownish head, and rummages within it while threateningly saying "look, I just need to ask you something, now come on out or I'm leveling that damned dinky hut!"

The girls inside grow tense. The tengu raises her camera and puts on a brave face, while the satori holds her third eye, and though she has her brave face on, she can't stop from shivering hard and whimpering a bit.

Outside, Marisa holds her Hakkero and aims it with both hands toward the door of the hut.

Other than her straight lips, there is no indication of emotion on her face, but as she mutters her love spell it becomes clear she is irritated.

"Shit, she's already using her Master Spark. What do we do?" whispers the reporter.

Though frightened out of her wits, Satori manages to say "n-no choice. W-we-we must a-attack now!"

The Hakkero glows, the skeletal witch trembles with power, "LOVE COLORED," she begins declaring without hesitation in her voice.

"Shameimaruuuuuuuuu!"

And Hatate's loud scream comes all the way from the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and saves the girls and the hut after Marisa's attention turns to it.

She immediately hops back on her broom and exclaims "they went back to the forest!", then takes flight straight toward Eientei while shouting "what the HELL is wrong with those two? Can't they stay in one place?"

Inside the hut the shaken tengu whispers "th-that's the first time in a while I am glad to hear Hatate's vengeful screaming."

The mind reader is taking one deep and desperate breath after another, and her only reply is a rapid nod and a dry-throat cough.

* * *

><p>"I really think we should have stayed Satori," says the worried tengu as she tries to get her friend to look at her, moving around in circles around the girl while moving forward, "seriously, you need rest! I'm genuinely worried here!"<p>

The purple-haired mind reader keeps looking down and moving her face away from the crow girl while softly saying "it's alright. It's like Miss Yuka said," and she finally raises her face, manages a stiff and pained smile while saying "I need to toughen up. I don't want to be a hindrance."

"**WHAT?**" shrieks Aya at the very same moment she grips the satori's shoulders, and when the girls' eyes are locked she exclaims "is that what this is about? Satori, if **you** need to toughen up, then what about **ME**?"

The disturbed mind reader remains silent as she stares back in shock, unable to read her friend's mind out of being so distraught.

Having her partner's attention the tengu continues "who the hell has been lifting **my** spirits this whole time? If it hadn't been for you I'd be mincemeat between Reimu's teeth back at Kourindou, or did you forget about that already?"

Satori's eyes widen as the memory of Kourindou runs through her mind, while her friend continues "I don't care about what that rude bitch said! I am me, you are you, she is **she**! There's no need to go out of our way to be someone else just to meet **their** expectations."

She loosens her grip on the girl and slowly drops to the ground on her seat while softly admitting "it's true, we do need to toughen up, but I won't change who I am just to please that woman, and you shouldn't either."

While staring into those red eyes and that serious face, the mind reader reads Aya's continued "_Satori-chan don't change. Please don't change,_" then smiles when the faces of Orin and Okuu appear before her.

"I... I see. _Sh-she's just like them. But I forget, she's a crow tengu. *Giggles* This is rather... refreshing to see._"

While thinking this the satori youkai places her hand on her friend's black hair and gently moves it up and down while saying "you're right. I'm sorry Miss Aya, I didn't mean to worry you. And though I do feel the need to rest, I believe we shoul-"

Both girls start feeling sleepy, and before the tengu can even ask what is going on, they realize too late that the decaying zombie nun, Ichirin Kumoi is standing only five feet away from them.

Her eyes are two white orbs, the skin on her face looks almost blackish, her hood covers her bald head, and on it is a large bloodstain that makes it look blackish-purple.

The right side of her upper lip has rotted off and the remaining flesh drips as though the skin is made of liquid, the left side of her shirt dangles around her ruined skirt, showing her ribs and what few organs remain inside of her, and her left leg is just a set of bones with some tendons clinging on it for movement.

The girls want to flash her, but like Akyuu, this girl emanates a soothing light and a calming mist, but unlike the Child of Mare, this one doesn't seem to be all too conscious about what she's doing, save for her obvious need to kill and feed.

She looks at the girls and moans as though lamenting, then raises her right hand and unleashes a set of claws with fresh blood on them.

Aya and Satori tense up for a second and try to escape, but the sweet scent of the mist penetrates their nostrils and in just seconds they fall to the ground with their eyes open, and watch at the ghoulish nun bends down by their sides.

The reporter wants to scream when that nun goes straight for her satori friend, but her body is too relaxed and all she can do is moan and grunt.

She summons as much strength as she can and raises her wobbly arm in an attempt to reach her friend, but just as her fingers touch Satori's exposed shoulder, everything turns pitch black.

* * *

><p>Consciousness quickly returns to the reporter, or at least she thinks it's quickly.<p>

She wiggles her fingers then moves her arms and legs, inspecting for loss of limbs, movement, or pain, but to her luck she shows none of those symptoms, though she does feel drowsy as hell.

"AH! Satori!" gasps the girl, immediately recovering herself fully, opening her eyes and sitting straight in a second on a comfortable bed.

"I'm here, I'm here!" quickly answers the girl to Aya's right, "I'm so glad you're alright. You had me worried. You wouldn't wake up no matter how many times I called you."

The mind-reader sounds refreshed and calm, and for some reason this overwhelms the black-haired girl enough to jump-hug the satori, placing her head on her friend's chest.

"M-M-Miss Aya, wha-what are you doing?"

The embarrassed girl tries to question what's happening, but the hugging tengu speaks before she can form words, "I was worried! That zombie went straight at you and I couldn't even move! I thought you were dead!"

Satori resigns to the hug and answers with a pat on the reporter's head, and softly says "it's alright, I'm fine. But more importantly," then looks around and asks "do you know where we are?"

Aya pulls her face away from her friend's chest and finally realizes they are inside a wooden room with a single round window too small for either of them to go through, two twin beds neatly sheeted and cleaned, though recently disturbed by the girls, a lamp on a small table drawer between the beds, their backpacks lying on the floor in front of the table, and a large scroll with a Sutra written on it, hanging on the wall in front of the beds.

"Oh shit," whispers the reporter as her mind slowly registers her surroundings, "we... we're in-"

"The Myouren Temple," finishes a sweet, but dry voice coming from the open door to the hallway.

Under the open doorway stands zombie Byakuren Hijiri, whose hair has lost all its sheen, but has retains its fullness.

Her eyes look like two large marbles with a yellow center stuck on a fleshy tube, which happen to cover the woman's eye sockets, her sleeves have been torn so her rotting right arm, which drips blood and other sickening smelly fluids, and her bony left arm lay bare.

The left side of her abdomen and waist seem to have been brutally ripped off, while the rest of her attire, though still there and is stained with blood and some inexplicable black goop, covers the rest of her body, which no longer possesses that curvy feminine look on the top.

Though her lips look dry with that decayed orangey-brown skin, she manages to smile sadly and say "I know, the look is no longer appealing to those like you who are still unaffected."

Aya and Satori swiftly jump out of the bed and land on the floor in brave fighting stances while holding their flashing weapons, then the tengu girl threateningly says "give us one very good reason why we shouldn't flash you to the death right now!"

The zombie monk retains her smile as she raises her right rotting hand and says "because my girls and I saved you from the Master, and you are currently safe from harm in this room."

The girls look around themselves and see three wards very similar to the ones Reimu gave them above the door, but these have the words written in violet instead of red.

Seeing as her two guests seem to be on edge still, the zombie monk sighs and reaches inside the room with her left hand, but she's immediately repelled by a bright holy light that burns her bony hand, yet she doesn't seem to acknowledge being burned at all.

Still looking suspiciously at their host, Shameimaru asks "and why are you helping us? Don't you want to eat us or kill us? Didn't you master command you all to kill us?"

Byakuren motions both hands asking the girls to settle down, and then says "please sit. It's a rather long explanation."

Saying that, the zombie monk drops on her knees, making a loud cracking sound along with the thud of her fall, then her lips crack as she straightens them and says "yes, it's true. The master has ordered you two to be terminated, however the order changed a little, as it seems you _amuse_ her."

The estranged girls look at each other and Aya thinks "_should we sit and listen to this?_", to which Satori nods, then both girls sit on the bed again, yet each holds on to her weapon in case of an attack.

Meanwhile the zombie woman continues "but we no longer listen to the Master. We have decided to go our own way, and because I was allowed to keep my mind I have decided we will all help those in need, like you two."

She notices the suspicious yet surprised looks on the girls and blinks, something that sickens her guests when they see those two white orbs with yellow pupils being swallowed up by that worm-like skin, only to reemerge with a slimy green substance around them.

Ignoring their sickened looks, the zombie monk continues "right now we have saved a handful of humans and youkai who, like you, had been forced into the Master's game. In fact, right now we have some humans working in the kitchen, preparing your meals the way you would like them."

Right on cue, a pale and stiff human male with dark hair walks toward the monk, holding a tray with steaming food on a pair of plates and mugs filled with iced tea, and presents it to the zombie woman.

She picks it up and thanks the man for the hard work, but he does not respond and simply turns around, glancing over at the girls before leaving, then Satori flinches and holds her forehead.

"What's wrong?" asks Aya with concern, to which her friend just shakes her head and softly replies "uh, nothing. M-miss Byakuren, you were saying?"

The woman pushes the tray as far into the room as she can without getting zapped by her own wards and says "don't worry, I promise this food is fresh and healthy for two youkai as yourselves."

The girls look at the delicious-smelling plates of sliced fish and rice with seaweed topping adorning the meal, the two mugs with iced green tea, and the clean disposable chop-sticks ready to be picked.

Though still a bit doubtful, the girls pick the offered meal and silently decide to partake on it, not wanting to offend their host and cause any unwanted tension.

Both are quickly surprised by the amazing taste of the offered food, making Byakuren smile again when she notices.

As they eat, the zombie-looking monk says "I am glad it's to your liking," then continues "right, as I was saying, this place has become a sanctuary for those weary survivors. And like I mentioned before, they are few."

"The Master was furious with us and sent a legion of her best monsters to battle us, but we proved to be the strongest. They gave up and lefts us alone, and now we can freely help those in need. Now the survivors can live here in peace with us."

After gulping down the food in her mouth, Satori looks at Byakuren and asks "so, this place has both living and undead beings living together? How can you manage that without having casualties?"

The zombie monk closes her bulgy eyes again wile aiming her face to the floor and says "my people and I have found the means to suppress that need to eat living flesh, so don't you worry about that anymore. Just know you are safe here."

Zombie Byakuren then turns her now-slimy eyes to her left to look at zombie Ichirin, who just stands there without saying a single word.

Seems the barrier is legit, seeing as the girls don't feel the effects of the zombie nun's mist, even though they are this close to her.

"Ah, I understand," says the zombie woman as she stands back up with some difficulty, then looks at the girls with a smile and says "sorry ladies, I need to tend to some business. Please enjoy the rest of your meal. Oh, and you may wonder about, just don't get separated, and don't stray too far from your room. It is all I'll ask of you."

The girls share worried glances, yet the monk happily reassures them "oh, there's nothing to worry about. It's just best if you follow these rules. Now, come along Ichirin."

With that, zombie Byakuren leaves to the left, leaving Ichirin to close the door to the room.

She remains standing in the hallway, staring sadly at the girls, and then a goopy white tear rolls down her left cheek before she closes the sliding paper door and walks away after her master.

* * *

><p>After the girls are sure they are alone they place their empty tea mugs on the tray and Aya demands "spill it. I know you know something."<p>

Satori shakes her head and says "I'm sorry but I couldn't read Byakuren's mind. She's blocking me the same way you did."

The tengu girl looks away from her friend with a flat-look on her eyes and an embarrassed smile when she hears that truth delivered so bluntly.

"But that man," continues the satori maiden, not noticing her friend's distress as she holds her chin to think while saying "that moment he glanced at us, he screamed in my mind '_run away_'. He sounded desperate."

"You don't have to tell me that twice," hurriedly says Shameimaru as she rushes toward the window, saying "there's something very odd about this place. And that Byakuren is giving me the creeps! She's being way too sweet."

She takes her fan, and even after Satori warns her not to, she swings it with all her might and shoots several red and blue bullets.

The mind reader shouts "hit the floor!" drops on the floor and lies down as flat as she can.

The tengu gasps when her bullets bounce off the wall and drops on the floor as fast as she can, narrowly missing the scorching blast of her own bullets.

Those bullets bounce back and forth inside the room over and over, until Satori manages to turn around and shoot a single bullet large enough to consume Aya's and end that dangerous game of pong.

Both girls pant as they recover from the scare, then the purple-haired girl turns her head to her friend and says "somehow, I knew this was going to happen."

The black-haired reporter chuckles, yet scowls as she says "you could have said that before I shot those."

The satori quietly stares at her partner, but prefers to keep quiet.

After having recovered most of their breath the girls sit up, then Aya says "well, instead of blasting that wall, let's just break it piece by piece and get out of here."

Satori nods, then stands up after the tengu to help her with the escape, but after approaching the window and getting a good look of their current location, both girls freeze in place and gag on their own tongues.

Though she takes a deep breath, the crow tengu can only whimper "but... we-we're-"

"Flying?" finishes whimpering the mind-reader as she and her friend gaze through the window and realizes they are only a few twenty feet away from touching the unnatural clouds with bolts that seem to be getting as thick as skin.

The girls are inside the flying Palanquin, which is anchored to the remains of the Myouren Temple, and is surrounded by a navy-blue magical mist that looks poisonous enough to kill even a youkai.

For the first time in her life, Aya feels sick to her stomach while flying, and as she takes cautious steps away from the window she shakingly says "hahah. W-we're flying! We are very high in the sky, inside a temple!"

Satori gulps, turns away from the sickening window, and then says "Miss Aya, I am getting a really bad feeling about this. W-we have to escape."

"But how?" barks the crow girl.

The mind-reader is stumped, and as such she finds herself subconsciously going over to her bed and lying on her back on it while thinking.

The tengu sighs, knowing her friend is as stumped as she is, so she walks over to her bed and says "well, this place is protected, so might as well rest," then drops on her back on her bed and finishes "and the hot food isn't bad either. I quite enjoyed the fish."

Silence takes the room for a long time and the girls start falling asleep on the comfortable beds, then the purple-haired mind-reader breaks the silence by wondering "maybe if we find Byakuren we can ask her if she'll let us off. I-I mean, she's been very kind."

The black-haired girl springs on her seat on her bed and exclaims "but she gives me the creeps, and there's something funny about her."

Satori nods and softly says "I know, I don't really trust her," then her eyes intensify as she exclaims "but what other choice do we have?"

Aya stares flatly at her friend and grins mischievously, then says "we could, I dunno, find our way out of here, escape on our own, and NEVER look back," then looks away and dreamily adds "though the food was so good."

The mind reader face palms and thinks "_she's definitely an animal. Always thinking with their stomachs,_" then takes her hand away from her face to look at the black-haired girl and says "fine then, let's get out of here while we can."

The tengu girl is already wearing her backpack and holds the second one up while showing a smile to her friend, then says "the sooner the better."

As soon as they exit the room they take the right path of the narrow corridor, contrary to where the zombies Byakuren and Ichirin went, hoping it's the way out, and praying in their minds it is also the safest.

* * *

><p>They quickly find themselves a little lost inside a small but frustrating labyrinth of rooms, taking lefts, rights, going straight and having to backtrack when reaching dead-end rooms.<p>

To their surprise every single room is equipped with beds, small table drawers and closets, and what's more, everything is incredibly spotless.

"Man, I wish my room was this clean," comments the tengu girl after passing through yet another single-bedded room.

"Well you really have no excuse for not cleaning it yourself," casually replies the satori youkai.

"Tch, read my mind girl! I'm too busy writing and printing my paper!" snaps the embarrassed reporter.

Satori covers her mouth with her hand as she giggles to herself, then says "right, right. You are a very busy girl."

As they walk past yet another room Aya proudly says "damned right," and as they head straight to the next door she confidently adds "and once we solve this incident I am going to write everything down, print the best pictures. I... I'll even write a whole article on how awesome you really are, so people will stop fearing you!"

She blushes after saying something as embarrassing as that, but that's what she truly means, and this tengu is obsessed with the truth and sees no reason to lie about it.

The mind-reader is also blushing, but decides to reserve any comments as they walk into the next room, this one adorned with a shelf and ornaments instead of a scroll.

"Dammit, another dead end," roars the crow girl in frustration, then quickly turns around and flatly says "come on, let's try that other door those three rooms ago."

That's when Satori notices the small green box on the left side of the bed with a note resting against it and asks "wait, what's that over there?"

Aya steps aside to allow her friend through while saying "um, m-maybe we shouldn't linger. I mean, we haven't seen a single person, or zombie, thank goodness, this whole time. M-might be a tra-"

"This is from Koishi!" exclaims the mind-reader while looking at the tengu and showing her the letter and exclaiming "she was here!"

Before the reporter can say anything else she reads the letter out loud.

_Dear Onee-chan_

_After you, Orin and Okuu left it got very boring back at home, so I came after you._

_I don't know where you guys went and searched EVERYWHERE and didn't find any of you, but I kept looking for you, and wouldn't you know it, all the humans and youkai up here are walking corpses._

_Orin must be having the time of her LIFE._

_Or maybe not. These things are dangerous, and even with my powers some of them see me and attack me without me doing anything to them. So rude._

_Anyway, I somehow found you here after I flew up to the deck, but you were sleeping the whole time._

_Seriously sis, three whole days of waiting, eating hot meals, taking warm baths, sleeping on a soft bed, and you still kept on sleeping._

_Hey, I saw that tengu girl with you, but where are Orin and Okuu at?_

Satori stops reading the letter to look at Aya and whispers "three days."

The black-haired girl with a quarter of a shirt missing gulps and says "best hurry so we can get out of here. Now I'm REALLY getting a bad feeling," then she starts looking around the room while her partner reads the rest of the letter.

_But whatever. Maybe they went on to have their fun while you explored this new place; and you made a new friend, so that's good._

_Now then, I am sure you must be jumping all around and dropping those stupid sandals of yours all over the place, so I left you a little gift here._

_It's my boots sis! You can use them all you want, but I want them back as soon as you get back home._

_Now, if we could do something about that eye of yours._

_I'm telling you, you'd be so happy with that thing closed._

_Um, anyway, I am not feeling so well, so I am going back home._

_Please come back soon. It's so boring down there without you, and I don't like it up here anymore._

_Love, Koishi_

The purple-haired satori holds her sister's letter against her chest and takes a deep breath before turning to the green box and opening it to find Koishi's brown buckle boots in them.

Ignoring her tengu friend, who tinkers with the odd wooden ornaments on the only shelf on the room, she takes the boots with a heavy heart and promptly switches her sandals for them.

A perfect fit. She wiggles her toes inside their new covers and cries "l-look Miss Aya. N-no more slipping sandals. Heh heh."

The tengu smiles with sympathy for her friend and says "th-that's good. You, um, better thank your sister when we, er, see her," then she accidentally breaks the neck of what looks like a wooden horse made of cones.

An awkward silence takes the room, and before either girl can speak, the floor beneath them rumbles, and some heavy and loud clanks are heard coming from outside the rooms, then suddenly stop.

Satori quickly rushes to Aya, stuffs her sandals inside her friend's backpack and says "Koishi is out there! We've been here for at least three days! Who knows, maybe more," and manages to store her sister's letter in her own backpack.

The black-haired reporter is already opening the door back outside as she bravely says "right. We get the heck out of here and search for your sis-"

But before she can finish her sentence her satori friend pulls her shoulder and looks at her in the eyes.

There's no need to be a mind reader to tell what she wants to say.

The letter clearly says Koishi was feeling sick, and that can only mean one thing, but out of respect the tengu will neither say it nor think it, and just nods before exiting the room.

The girls go back the three rooms they went through before, but are surprised that instead of finding the room with a third door, they find themselves in the narrow corridor's far end.

On the dead-end wall to their right is a small black vent from where some faint voices can be heard, along with some soft whooshing; a possible way out.

"Sh-should we?" nervously asks Satori.

Aya gulps, wanting to turn away and find another way, but she sighs in defeat and says "it could be the way out my friend. We have no choice."

The mind-reader sighs and says "yeah, I thought the same. Um, have... your camera ready. I'm starting to get that dreadful feeling."

The tengu already holds the digital camera on her hand and smiles as she says "I was going to suggest just that."

Without saying another word the brave crow girl crawls into the dark vent, followed promptly by her satori friend, and moments after they are inside the opening to the vent closes on its own, thus forward is the only way to go for the nervous live girls.

* * *

><p>They crawl forward for what feels like ten, maybe even fifteen minutes, and still the voices sound faint, though Aya thinks they are getting closer.<p>

The only thing leading them through that dark vent is a small light at its end, and finally it has started to grow as they keep moving forward.

Finally, they reach the end of the vent, where the surface of the narrow trail is covered by a viscous substance.

"Eugh, what the hell is this?" questions the disgusted tengu girl as she looks at the black slime clinging on her hands and knees, visible thanks to the warm light entering through the vent's hole.

"Guh, I don't know," whispers Satori, "just hurry and get us out of here please."

The black-haired girl nods and rushes to the vent's exit, only to fall through a trap door and slide down a slimy fleshy surface into a dark balcony-like room, suppressing her desire to scream for some felt reason.

As she recovers herself and stands up, she notices her partner fell right behind her, but before either speaks the mind-reader shushes and points toward the nearest window, where the source of the voices from before comes from.

The floor and the walls on the large balcony are covered with a bumpy and fleshy substance that's covered in some sort of greenish slime and spews an odd and sticky fluid when punctured or stepped on hard, mostly evident on the spot where the girls fell on.

As Aya and Satori look down the window, they are shocked at the sight, and then cover their eyes as a man screams, gurgles and coughs along with a disturbing ripping sound, then silence once again.

Several floors below them are the zombies Byakuren, Minamitsu, Ichirin, and Nue, and in front of them are several humanoid figures chained by their wrists and ankles, stripped out of most of their clothes.

The massive room looks like a large stadium with a bloodstained platform in the middle and surrounded by the same fleshy surface as the balcony.

The majority of those chained figures have been recently killed, their skins ripped off while they were alive, obvious from the agonizing looks on their frozen faces, while some seem to be just about ready to wake up as zombies, twitching occasionally at times.

Minamitsu Murasa stands beside the zombie monk, her eyes have shrunk, the skin around them have taken over most of her ocular orbs, and now have a vile look to them.

Her head has a small hole where a mass of flesh can be seen pouring out, her shirt is now blackish-red from all the blood, her skin has turned grey and has shriveled up, yet remains slimy to the eyes.

Nue Houjuu sits on the backrest of a bench with her back turned to the girls, and has the whole right side of her body exposed, her rotting skin is covered with black fungus, her nails look dangerously sharp, the left side of her hair looks grey, and when she looks back and snarls at nothing in particular, the girls can see the right side of her face is nothing but a hole, while the left side remains functional.

Her eye is a blood-dripping red orb hanging from a brown and slimy skin-thread and dangles dangerously close to her long forked tongue, and only her right-side red blade-like wings remain on her back.

The girls watch in horror as zombie Byakuren finishes ripping the skin off a human male, who was just murdered with a wooden stake on the heart like some vampire.

The zombie monk sighs, then says "alright ladies, two more naughty guests and we'll have enough to lasts us a month," and after a giggle she adds "we won't have to kill any more survivors for THAT long!"

Her monstrous girls, save for Ichirin, all seem to cheer and raise their fists in the air in celebration, and then the chains that hold the last two humanoid beings move as though linked to a machine that just cannot be seen.

One is a single-horned male oni with blue skin whose horn seems to have been broken off recently and stabbed through his very own stomach, leaving him too weak and powerless to defend himself.

The other is a beautiful female vixen youkai who looks strong enough to fight, yet can't break free from her bindings, no matter how hard she tries.

Both have been stripped down, and the vixen uses her tail to cover her lower regions, though after looking at those that died before her, it has become obvious covering up is no longer a prime concern.

Byakuren walks to the vixen and sweetly says "ah, my beautiful little fox. I warned you several times to please not raid the kitchen. I am so sorry, but you will have to be punished."

The youkai girl grunts and roars after one final attempt to escape, then shouts "you're a FREAK! MAD FREAKS! Why did you strip me? Are you perverts too? LET ME GO SO I CAN KILL YOU, you sick BITCHES!"

A rusty anchor slams across the vixen's chest and abdomen, leaving a bloody gash so deep her broken bones lay bare to plain sight, thus killing the poor girl before Byakuren had the chance to punish her.

"Mini-chan~" sweetly sings the undead Youkhrist as she walks over to the zombie captain, and threateningly says "we do **NOT** kill guests until AFTER their punishment as been served. Did I make myself clear?"

That fiercely vile look on the zombie captain's face turns pitiful when the undead girl nervously shakes her head then quickly nods to fix her mistake.

The zombie monk cracks a smile and walks away, grabs the vixen by her shoulders, sinks her deceivingly harmless-looking claws into her skin, and in a swift move she pulls with all her might.

Aya and Satori both cover their mouths to suppress the yelps of fright as they drop to the squishy ground to look away from the horrifying sight, yet they can still hear the horrible ripping sound echo all over the large room.

Their eyes remain frozen wide in shock, though they suppressed their yelps they cannot help but breathe rapidly through their mouths, whimpering uncontrollably as they do so.

Down on the bloody room below zombie Byakuren sighs and mutters "more naughty guests wandering too far," then looks up at the fleshy balconies and commands "Shou, Nazrin, be a couple of good girls and subdue the tengu and the mind-reader. We're going to have to punish them too."

The girls on the high rooms stand up and look out the window, gazing with horror back at the girls from below who snarl and hiss back at them.

"We have to get the HELL OUT OF HERE!" shouts Satori.

"TOO LATE!" shouts Aya, jumping toward her friend and tackling her to the ground and avoiding a thin black object swung with precision and strength at their heads.

They quickly stand up with their flashing weapons on hand, several torches magically light up, and now they can see their attackers easily.

Shou Toramaru and Nazrin, who rides on her master's back both have dry and shriveled brown skins, glowing white orbs for eyes, feral faces, and both have their hair and clothes intact.

The zombie tiger youkai with a feral face roars as she rises on her legs, revealing a large hole that goes through her stomach and back, then drops back down on all four and snarls like a wild beast with sharp yellow fangs and long, sharp red claws.

To their surprise, the zombie mouse with the long and dangerously sharp front teeth isn't just riding on the tiger's back, but instead has merged on the girl, and holds her dowsing rods as one would hold a deadly weapon.

She screeches and snarls, then says "bad guests! Punish by MASTER!" while swinging her dowsing rods with dangerous precision and speed.

* * *

><p>Aya presses the button on her camera and flashes the monsters before her, making them flinch and scratch their eyes, then she looks around and shouts "I don't see any exits!"<p>

Satori takes her third eye and flashes the zombie girls with a powerful flash that allows her and her friend to see an open door right behind the monster, then shouts "she's guarding the way out!"

All the lights turn back off, leaving very limited visibility thanks to the lights from the room outside, however it's dark enough for the mutant youkai to hide.

"Wh-where is she?" nervously asks the tengu while looking around herself.

The satori youkai takes a few slow and quiet steps back on the fleshy ground, looking around herself and her partner for that monster, then ducks to avoid a black rod and flashes toward its source twice, and shouts "it's trying to get behind us!"

The monster roars and take several audible steps back, then their eyes start glowing red, giving away their position, though just barely.

The set of eyes stop moving on what appears to be the wall and just stays there, in clear view and unprotected from the girls' flashes.

Just as they are about to take this opportunity the girls stop, raise an eyebrow, then simultaneously ask "**what's that?**"

There is a strange fluttering sound getting closer rapidly, and the girls instinctively drop on their stomachs on that squishy fleshy floor to avoid one spinning dowsing rod flying in the air, aimed at their necks.

The black rod sticks on the fleshy wall behind the girls, and looking at it with surprise the tengu girls shouts "oh shit! We gotta take them out FAST!"

"I agree," exclaims Satori as she gets back up, "the others are on their way here! We have to hurry!"

Aya nods, bends her knees, then dashes toward the monsters, making sure she's as close as she can be before clicking that shutter and flashing the beasts, getting a perfectly centered shot out of that.

"Awesome, this one's front page quality for sure," happily cheers the reporter as she retreats from zombie Nazrin's reach.

"Don't get too overconfident! Remember what happens whenever that happens," warns the mind-reader as she starts moving forward.

Zombie Shou spots Satori moving toward her and jumps off the wall and rushes to her, roaring and baring her fangs and claws at her prey, aiming to claw her open with a single swing.

Seeing the attack coming before her friend, Aya rushes to her and takes a blinding photo of the monsters, forcing the zombie tiger to miss her mark and roar as she falls to the floor and skids her face on the fleshy floor, staining herself with the black fluid said flooring spews whenever harmed.

"Are you alright Satori?" hurriedly asks the worried bird, to which the purple-haired youkai nods and replies "thank you. I almost didn't see that coming."

Aya raises an eyebrow and says "um, sure you did. Now let's finish them off before they get back up!"

The girls run toward the monsters and flash them mercilessly, not allowing Shou to get back up or Nazrin to swing that remaining rod of hers, and after a tenth and final flash both zombies gurgle and stiffen, their eyes shut off, and blood from their mouths mixes with the black fluid that prevented their movement.

The two friends look at each other before looking at the zombies once more, then Aya takes off as the room lights up again, calling "come on! I'm sure Byakuren and her grunts are already waiting for us."

Satori stares at the monstrous mouse, takes the South and East rod from her stiff hands, then runs after her friend, calling back "hey, wait for me! And don't rush now! We need a plan!"

She easily catches up to the crow girl as she stands in place with her mouth agape, and says "oh my. This. is not good."

Aya looks at the mind-reader, closes her eyes and lets a whimper escape her, then cries "this is just no fair!"

The open door leads straight back to the room corridors, and though the girls knew they were going to have to run through the small maze once again, they never expected a spell would be placed there to confuse them.

The corridor itself seems to twist like a corkscrew, some rooms are upside down, others seems to be clinging on the walls, and the rest that seem to be normal also appear to hold nasty surprises within, evident when through the paper doors they can see fairies and other creatures moving about.

Both tengu and satori sigh simultaneously, then the mind-reader reluctantly says "come on. We don't have a choice, if we want to escape."

And so, without much of a choice, they move inside the twisted rooms in hopes to reach their freedom.

* * *

><p>As the girls advance through the magically enhanced rooms and corridors, they are met with zombie fairies and humans, and a few mutated undead youkai.<p>

"Where to?" shouts Aya, ducking to avoid a craw-swipe from a red human zombie.

Satori flashes the monster twice and finishes it off, swings the dowsing rod and cuts a zombie fairy in half, making her spill her innards all over the floor, then flashes the deceased being and says "it's tugging left now!"

So far, the dowsing rod has been helpful enough to keep them from going into dead-ends or avoid unnecessary confrontations, and though not a hundred percent trusting of it, they see no other choice than to follow where it's pulling to.

"I hope that thing's really leading us outside! And I think I need to delete a few photos from here again," shouts the tengu as she takes the photo of an odd creature that looks like a fleshy booger with eyeballs and a mouth that hangs from a hole on the wall.

The creature sizzles after being flashed and turns into a mass of goop, allowing the girls passage through the door toward the next corridor.

Though the girls are currently upside-down to them the floor feels normal, and as they move through the corckscerwing corridor they fail to feel any sense of displacement or loss of bearings.

"Over there! That door," declares the mind-reader as they get closer to a solid wooden door the same color as the rest of the wall, which only distinguishable trait is the golden knob on it.

Shameimaru grins wide and exclaims "that's it! It has to be the exit!"

Both girls scream when the walls beside the corridor bursts open, though Aya is quick enough to grab her friend and pull her to a stop.

"Phew, thank you," sighs Satori, to which her friend scornfully replies "don't thank me yet. We got company."

Blocking their path are two of those cat-like two-headed boars and a bulky zombie human with grey skin that spits purple ooze as it moans.

The girls prepare to fight, but before they even begin, "**SHAMEIMARUUUU BIIIIIIIIITCH!**" the terrifying scream of Hatate rings close, coming accompanied by the sound of cracking walls and crashing ornaments.

The reporter's eyes twitch along with her shoulders upon hearing that voice again, yet she still glowers as she looks around for the source of the voice with those fearful eyes and roars "that damned BITCH! She's **still** after me!"

"They're on the move," shouts Satori, and she and Aya quickly jump away from a tackle from that burly zombie at the same time they flash it, making it roar and back away.

Immediately after they touch the ground again they flash the oncoming clawed boars, which roar, moan and hiss as they continue their blind charge, crashing against each other when the girls move out of their way and allow them to continue their march.

Knowing they aren't down yet, Shameimaru turns around while Komeiji takes on the bulky zombie on her own.

The tengu flashes the monsters twice and they fall without making another sound, and then she remembers how they fake their own deaths from that experience in front of Alice's house.

She takes her fan and traps them both inside brief, but strong gust of wind, forcing them to squeal out of surprise, grins after outsmarting those creatures, then flashes them five more times until their bodies break apart into several bloody pieces on the floor.

"Augh! Some help please?" calls Satori after being pushed back on her butt after the burly zombie smacks her with the back of its large hand on the chest.

Aya gasps as she turns around, blindly rushes toward the creature, and jumps while aiming a geta to the face as she growls "don't you dare touch her, you fucking creep!"

The very second the platform of her sandal makes contact with the monster's caved nose the reporter takes several pictures, flashing it to its temporary death and disintegrating the viscous reddish-black poison that explodes from its now crushed-in face.

As shocked as she is, the satori maiden adds her own flash to her partner's while thinking "_wait a minute, what just happened? Did Aya just come to save **me**? Not just out of fear of being alone, but because she... N-no, I must have thought that myself. She's a surface dweller._"

The tengu reporter turns her neck to look at Satori and asks "are you alright? Did it hurt you?"

The purple-haired girl stares in shock, unable to believe this up-worlder crow is genuinely worried about her, yet she manages to nod and accepts her friend's helping hand even though still frozen with surprise.

After helping her mind-reading friend dust herself, the reporter points at the camouflaged door with her thumb, smiles and says "come on. It'll be better if Hatate doesn't find us."

After another absent-minded nod from Satori, the mind-reader and Aya move to the door, quickly open it up and enter it without a second thought.

They have now successfully escaped the twisted maze, but now they may be wanting to go back.

They are now inside a large storeroom, though it is empty save for the horrifying monster in the very center of said room.

A smelly, fleshy worm-like monster that drips its vile skin as though it's made of slime, wobbles and wriggles furiously, gurgling and blubbering as large tentacles rise from the base of its cylindrical body.

The hideous creature's slimy dripping flesh keeps rotting off and regenerating, the smell it emanate would knock a human unconscious, but what has Aya whimpering like a human child on the floor and cornering herself against the wall with a blue face, is the face of Momiji Inubashiri frowning sadly at her from the creatures body.

Her arms and legs are spread open, her back seems to have merged with the monster's skin, and as she looks at her tengu comrade she moans "whyyyyy did youuu abandon meeeeee? Youuuu betrayed us alllll."

"**NO**," screams the crow tengu, desperate and begging for this to stop.

Satori stands firmly in place, staring straight at the creature, then scowls.

She closes her eyes for a brief moment and opens them again, and then she sighs as she kneels beside her friend, covers her eyes with her own hand, and then softly says "Aya, it's me, Satori. Listen to me carefully. What you are seeing is not true."

Still disturbed, the reporter stammers before finally asking "what do you mean? M-Momiji! Th-the Tengu-!"

"Shh, shh, it's alright Miss Aya. That is no worm, nor a Tengu comrade of yours," softly says the mind-reading girl before getting closer to the black-haired girl's ear and whispering "that is a nue, the nue youkai you saw with Byakuren earlier. She's using your fears against you."

She slowly uncovers the tengu girl's eyes as she says "and now that you know and understand this, what do you see?"

And just like Satori said, instead of the horrid worm with Momiji as an adornment, on the center of the room is Nue Houjuu, glaring back with that replaced reddish left eye and snarling, trying to frighten the girls with another illusion, even though her own appearance is enough to unsettle them.

Aya slowly calms down enough to stop whimpering and stand, and after she recovers enough she whispers "th-that's a nasty trick. Tha-that bitch."

Helping her friend stand, Satori sighs again and says "let's take her down and move on. She doesn't seem that troublesome without her powers working."

The tengu reporter grins, even though still shivering she manages to stand on her own and lift her camera, and just as she's about to take the picture the door to their rights bursts open and the screaming zombie tengu, Hatate Himekaidou, walks into the room and hisses at the zombie nue.

The two zombies hiss and roar at each other, shooting glances at the staring living girls, as though arguing over them, and Aya Shameimaru, being the reporter she is, sees a great shot for her paper right there in front of her.

Before Satori can stop her the tengu reporter takes the photo and the purple-haired girl face palms, yet the reaction to the tengu's action is unexpectedly welcome.

Nue roars, Hatate shrieks, and before long the two zombie girls are at each other's necks, biting off pieces of each other, tearing at each other with their claws, and being extremely loud while at it.

As the blood and pieces of flesh fly around the room the living tengu girl grabs her satori friend's hand and runs around the room toward the door behind the nue, swiftly goes through it, and closes it.

After taking a few quick breaths Satori says "hah, these boots. certainly make a. a difference! They won't fall off."

Aya smiles, sighs loudly, then says "then let's be sure to thank you sister when we-," and she stops after realizing what she had just said.

Maybe she ignored the black-haired girl, or maybe the satori girl is faking it, but the purple-haired youkai looks around their surrounding as though not listening to her friend and says "looks like we're in the kitchen."

The reporter gasps when, aside from a few questionable mounds of rotting meat on a single table, she gazes upon fresh fruits, vegetables, sacks of rice, bottles of sake, boxes of tea leaves, and even a few plates of dessert cake and cookies placed on a large wooden counter.

After absorbing in the data or their surroundings the tengu girl sighs in delight and says "we're in heaven!"

The mind reader face-palms once again as she shakes her head, then sighs "ah, beasts and food. It's always about the food."

* * *

><p>In a matter of minutes the girls have stuffed their backpacks with as much food as they can fit, and Aya, being a tengu, has drunk a whole bottle of sake by herself, and is trying to stuff a second bottle into her backpack, however the space is too limited and has to leave it.<p>

"A pity we can't increase their size somehow," softly says Satori as she closes her backpack after taking one last bite off an apple.

There is a moment of pause as the girls reequip themselves with their newly-filled backpacks and smile at each other after glancing over one another.

After the satori youkai picks the dowsing rod from her side, she turns around and says "come on. We spent more than enough time in here and those monsters might-" she turns around to her friend when she sees doubtful thoughts crossing her mind and asks "what's the matter Miss Aya?"

"P-please call me Aya. We're friends after all," answers the black-haired girl, and after the mind-reader nods the tengu asks "you saw what I saw because of that nue, right? Satori, is that how you felt when I mentioned... her?"

The mind-reader turns around and softly says "let's get a move on," but just as she takes that first step, her tengu friend grabs her shoulder and demands "I must know!"

The sleeved-sleeveless mind-reader sighs, places her hand on her friend's without looking back and says "yes, it hurt almost as much, but Aya you must understand something."

She takes her friend's hand off and turns around to look at her as she continues "maybe it's because of that long sleep, but I have finally come to understand that we will **not** see our loved ones as long as we don't deal with this incident."

"It hurts, but I must accept the fact that Koishi and all those I care for have turned into those monsters, the same way you have accepted this as a fact, Mi-um, Aya."

The black-haired reporter looks down to hide her eyes as she says "I still don't want to believe that Satori-chan, but you are right. The way things are now, it's best we accept that fact. But I'm still so scared."

Komeiji smiles as she places her hand on her reporter friend's cheek and gently scratches the side of her ear, making the girl smile and moan in bliss, and thinks "_te-heh, found this birdie's scratch point. Same as Okuu's. Ahh, this should calm her down._"

The door to the front bursts open and the girls quickly jump into attack positions aiming their flashing weapons toward the source of the noise, but quickly raise an eyebrow in wonder, then the tengu says "you're that guy that brought us that delicious food earlier."

The man walks past the door and the girls like some sort of robot and heads straight to the cabinet to prepare the next meal, and though apparently stuck in his own world he speaks strongly and with urgency.

"You're out of the maze. Good. Now get the hell out of here before the captain finds you."

At first the girls think he is being rude, but quickly discard that thought and want to ask him to come with them, but as though reading their minds, while still working diligently like some android, he speaks again.

"Thank you for your kindness, but it's of no use. I am bound by a curse, and if for some reason that monk doesn't find me useful, she's going to burst my heart."

"Wh-what if we kill her? Can't you escape then?" concernedly asks Satori.

The man finally turns his head, acknowledging the girls for a second before returning to chopping vegetables, and then says "if she dies the majority of the still-living here will die along with her. Your kindness is inspiring, but I'm afraid it's misplaced. You are still free. You MUST get out while you still can!"

Aya takes a step closer to the man and asks "but isn't there anything we-?" but before she finishes the man raises his knife at her and threateningly says "if you don't leave in forty seconds I will have to raise the alarm, or she will kill **me**, do you understand?"

Both girls take one step away from the man, and after the tengu nods they both rush out the door he came through, and from the kitchen the man loudly says "may the spirits bless you for as long as they can."

As they run through the next corridor, this one dark and narrow and full of barrels and lumber on the sides, the black-haired reporter glances back at her partner and asks "if we can't kill Byakuren, how are we supposed to get out of here?"

The mind-reader shakes her head and loudly replies "that woman has really thought this through! We're going to have to do our best not to kill her, but..."

Without needing to read her friend's mind the crow girl scowls and says "yeah, I know. We might not have a choice in the end."

Aya and Satori both skid to a stop with terrified looks on their faces when they see Ichirin, standing only ten feet away, glowing faintly in the darkness.

"Oh shit, what do we do?" desperately asks the tengu.

The satori gulps and whispers "we can't let her get close. Aya, what should we do?"

The zombie girl stands in place, looking sadly at the girls as she moans softly, then she lifts her hands to waist-height and starts walking slowly toward them.

The crow reporter starts muttering under her breath as she hurriedly explores the digital camera while zombie Ichirin continues her march forward, moaning almost friendly-like and raising her hands as though welcoming the girls.

Aya cheers to herself, a spell card appears on her right hand, and then she looks back at Satori and says "if this doesn't work, I'm going to rush her. Wake me up if I fall."

Before the mind-reader can even question her friend, said tengu raises her spell card and declares "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash!"

A large, semi-transparent rectangular frame appears before the lens of the digital camera, and as Aya tinkers with some buttons that frame stretches over toward Ichirin, and just as the frame covers the zombie girl, the tengu reporter takes the shot that sends a flash in the form of a beam that trails visibly through the space between the girls and the zombie.

The zombie girl can see the beam and understands what it means if it touches her, but instead of running or trying to dodge, she raises her arms in a welcoming manner, her lower lips shapes a smile, and she closes her eyes as the beam strikes her between the eyes and bursts with a powerful light.

When the light fades the girls stare in awe at the fallen body of the zombie, then Satori asks "did she... did she just do what I think I did?"

Feeling a little depressed, the tengu reporter gulps and softly says "we did her a favor, it seems."

There is a brief moment of pause and silence for Ichirin, then the girls take off once more, hoping to reach the ship's exit and a way down without having to confront Byakuren, for fear of those still alive left on board.

* * *

><p>In order to conserve energy, the girls run slowly toward what they hope is the exit of the inside of this large ship, and after three minutes or so, they reach a door with a faint light glowing form outside it.<p>

Since it's so dark in the corridor, the bit of light shining through that door seems blinding.

"This is it," eagerly says Aya as she reaches for the doorknob.

Satori holds her arm and asks "wait, do you hear that? It's coming from outside."

Powerful gusts of wind come accompanied by the sound of heavy droplets, as well as marching footsteps and lights blasts.

The tired reporter gulps before flatly saying "great. There seems to be a storm waiting for us out there, along with an undead army."

The satori maiden sighs, rubs her forehead, and then reluctantly says "well, we're going to have to fight. We, um, better get ready."

Aya is already deleting pictures from the digital camera as fast as she can, so Satori takes the chance to close her eyes, breathe and summon the courage and energy she's going to need when that door opens.

Resigned to their fate, the girls look at each other and nod when ready, then the black-haired crow girl opens the door.

Just as they expected, outside the ship's bowels, the skies are dark as a powerful storm keeps hitting the ship hard, and on the other side of the thick curtain of rain is a small army of undead monsters; humans, fairies, ghouls, and even tainted spirits.

The still-living girls take a deep breath and take their fated steps forward, holding their flashing items on hand, Shameimaru surrounding her camera with a spell the makes it impermeable.

"Such naughty guests," says Byakuren from behind them, sitting on tops of the small roof above the door.

"And here I was, celebrating with the girls the fact that we had more than enough live flesh to sustain us for a while, and you go and wander where you should not have been."

"If you don't want to kill us," begins the tengu, who turns around and points at the zombie monk then shouts "then stop bothering us and let us go, you crazy bitch!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," casually replies the woman, "because you're going to keep killing more undead brethren down there. You girls should not do those things. It's mean."

"Like HELL it is!" barks Satori, surprising even her partner.

"They don't belong down there! NONE OF YOU DO! Gensokyo is paradise for youkai and humans, not undead monsters that destroy everything and everyone!"

The purple-haired girl breathes furiously where she stands, shooting a very dirty glare at the zombie monk and obviously doing her best to suppress the urge to shoot her worst flash at the host's face.

The zombie Youkhrist sighs and shakes her head in disappointment, places her dripping right hand on her forehead and says "I see there is no reasoning with you; even if we were to promise you immortality at the price of your skin. A very cheap price mind you."

"Got to hell psycho bitch!" spits Aya.

The zombie woman stares down at her naughty guests, glares, then raises her left bony hand and says "Mini-chan, you may kill them."

A rusty anchor with sharpened edges falls between the girls, who yelp as they separate to avoid being killed and turn around to face the threat.

Zombie Minamitsu now hides behind the curtain of rain and minions that rush forth to kill the girls.

"So if we want to get to the captain," begins the tengu.

"We're going to have to mow down these numbers," finishes the mind-reader as she raises her third eye.

The first to get close enough are the zombie fairies, who fall fast and hard after one or two flashes from either living girl.

Those are quickly followed by the spirits, who take up to three flashes to take down, but flinch whenever flashed so it's no problem to the girls.

Next are the human zombies and the ghouls, and these, though very slow, take quite a lot to take down, and mixing in with their undead comrades Aya and Satori find themselves overwhelmed, yet not ready to give up.

The reporter dives on her stomach to avoid a human claw and a fairy bite and takes a shot that knocks down two fairies and forces a bleeding human zombie to back away from her.

The satori hops backward to avoid a tackle from a spirit, twirls right while moving back to avoid getting vomited by a ghoul, and when her back is against the wall from the entrance, she grins as she lifts her third eye and flashes, using her all.

After five ghouls fall and several spirits fizzle, zombie Byakuren, who remains watching from the small roof, concernedly calls "Murasa, you're needed!"

Before the zombie captain arrives Aya shouts "no choice! Flash-danmaku!"

Satori nods, she and her crow friend press their backs against each other, said crow pockets her camera and takes out her fan, and just as zombie Minamitsu appears above their heads with anchor on hand, they both unleash a hellish barrage of bullets made as bright as possible.

The countless monsters around them roar, screech and lament as the innumerable bullets explode on them with a powerful flash accompanying the usual blast.

The zombie captain can't back away on time and finds herself caught in the very center of the barrage of bullets, and her roar or pain is loud enough to rattle the wooden boards on the ship.

This roar comes accompanied by a second, more powerful roar that comes from around the ship, and when the girls look up at this new threat, they simultaneously say "**oh no!**"

Unzan is now a massive purple cloud of miasma, and other than his glowing purple eyes, everything about him looks the same as before.

Massive purple fists appear to the side of the ship and swiftly fly straight toward the girls, whom have no other choice than to stop their attack and jump for cover.

The thunderous sound the fists make when they make contact with each other scares the girls to scream, but as scared as they are they both stand up as quickly as they can and raise their flashing weapons.

Both are winded because of the concentrated bullets they were shooting just now.

The attack, though effective, consumes too much energy, and if the girls can't finish off their intended targets before having to stop, it meant they would be too tired to fight back for long.

"I wasn't expecting this!" shouts Aya at her friend, to which Satori shouts back "just a little more! Hold on a little longer!"

Several more fists appear beside the ship, and one is aimed straight at the satori youkai.

Noticing this, the speedy tengu rushes toward her friend and takes a picture of the fist, causing it to fizzle out and Unzan to roar out of pain.

After his other fists cause more thunder and the girls stop screaming, zombie Minamitsu rushes to said girls, accompanied by a curtain of droplet bullets and the few remaining zombies and spirits left active.

Aya and Satori quickly flash the oncoming attackers and manages to stop a few, but it's not enough, so they both run as fast as they can to look for cover.

The deck of the ship becomes an explosive mess when Unzan's fists mix with Minamitsu's attack, and now a thick cloud of smoke covers the entirety of the deck of the ship.

The smoke clears fast and Satori slowly stands up, clutching the black dowsing rod and using it for support and calling "Aya! Aya, are you alright? Speak to me!"

After the smoke clears, she is greeted by the sight of her tengu friend pinned down on the floor with a rusty anchor resting uncomfortably on her neck and the boot of the zombie captain pushing down on her right wrist, making her unable to move her camera.

Slowly, the remaining monsters get up, some with lost eyes and limbs, other with open torsos and broken bones, and all quickly turn their hateful glares at the satori.

To the right of the girl stands zombie Byakuren, who places her wet bony hand on the girl's bare right shoulder and says "I am going to make this very easy for you. Give up now, and you and your little friend can stay on this ship forever as our guests."

Satori looks distressed around herself; it's hopeless.

Aya is a push away from losing her head, and who knows what else, given the circumstances.

They are both surrounded by zombies, Unzan looks ready to strike at any moment, and any attempts to escape made by her will definitely end up in disaster.

The zombie monk loosens her grip on the mind-reader and says "I will sweeten the deal. We will kill your so-called friend here and rid you of her and her mistrust toward you."

Satori's light gasp makes Byakuren crack a smile and say "yes, I know all about it. Your younger sister read your subconscious minds while you slept. That girl over there hates you, just like all of those other surface dwellers. She blocks you so you can't read her heart, she uses you so she doesn't end up alone in this amazing new world. She will discard you when this is over Satori Komeiji."

Doubts about her crow tengu partner arise inside her mind.

It's true that the girl has been treating her like a very special friend, and has shown she truly cares about her well-being, but that has only been recently.

"_What if this woman is right?_" thinks the girl as she looks at her partner.

Aya whimpers "Satori," and wants to reach her friend, but the zombie captain prevents her from moving, then the satori maiden smiles.

"_I can see it now. It's all clear,_" thinks the girl while looking around until she locks her eyes on zombie Minamitsu, then says "it's true that this girl has been giving me some grief with her selfishness, but..."

She turns around to take zombie Byakuren's arm off and keep her eyes on the monk, and continues "that was before, and this is now. Things have changed between us. So, I'm sorry but we'll have to decline your generous offer."

The monk's face cracks as she frowns, then says "I am so sorry to hear that. Well, I guess we'll just have to puni- What?"

Aya unleashes a battle cry as she swings her fan with her left arm and sends the zombie captain and a few other monsters flying several feet to the air and crash-landing on their heads, smashing them open on impact with the floor, and then jumps on her feet and starts running to the front of the deck.

Before the zombie monk can issue the command, Satori swings the black rod and smashes the "E" end of the black rod on her left temple, stabbing her and making her flinch, then turns around and flashes the single zombie fairy trying to stop her progress and quickly regroups with her friend away from the monsters and playfully says "trying to leave me behind I see."

The tengu stammers until she finally manages to say "I swear, I didn't! I just-"

Before she says any more she and the satori flash an incoming fist from Unzan, then resume their run, the mind-reader chuckling at the reporter's flustered face.

* * *

><p>The girls run to the front of the deck as though their lives depended on it, flashing Unzan's fists whenever one gets too close, but as fast as they run they don't seem to be going anywhere.<p>

At the end of a trail between the blood, guts, goop and bodies is Byakuren, muttering fast under her breath with that dowsing rod still lodged on her left temple.

"ARGH! That insane woman just won't let us go!" shouts Aya with frustration.

The girls stop their run as soon as Satori flashes two more fists from the Nyuudo and exclaims "no, we can't kill her! The survivors!"

"I know, I know," barks the furious reporter, who turns right to flash yet another fist and asks "then what should we do?"

"Use weak bullets. Should distract her long enough for us to reach that anchor chain," commands the mind-reader.

Just as the girls prepare to attack, Unzan's deafening and thunderous roar forces them to flinch and cover their ears, yet Aya fights the pain and shouts "**SHOOT!**" as loud as she possibly can in hopes that Satori hears her.

She does, and they both shoot fast bullets straight at the zombie monk.

The small waves hits the mark and Byakuren yelps and ducks for cover as the bullets explode around her, even knocking the black rod from her head.

It's their chance; the girls dash straight for that anchor, screaming as they do their best to avoid the Nyuudo's lasers and odd bullets, but not stopping, even for a second.

The edge is just three steps away when the tengu shouts "on three!"

"**Three!**" shouts the satori youkai, and both girls quickly hop over the rails and lands on the thick chains.

To their luck, the water from the storm hasn't made the chains slippery at all, so the first part of the descent is relatively easy for them, but as they go lower they realize the chain starts to angle and will eventually straighten, and just as the though crosses Aya, she and Satori find themselves clinging on to the chain for fear of a painful fall.

"Climb down, and FAST," exclaims the wingless crow girl, and now she and her partner climb down that chain as fast as they can without slipping.

The chain rattles and swings about violently, the two girls hold on tight to avoid falling, and when they look up they see a barrage of fists punching the chain and descending, followed by a set of fast lasers.

Satori gasps and shouts "let go," and she and Aya allow themselves to fall, even though they are still too high, and watch as a pair of fists crash right where they were a second before, making a thunderous noise and the chain jerk about violently.

The tengu manages to grab the chain during its swing and miraculously catches her mind-reading friend's wrist and pulls her along, saving both from what could have been a very painful crash-landing.

They continue their hurried descent down that chain until they look up and the purple-haired girl says "he stopped."

The reporter sighs with relief and says "I think they finally gave up! Now come on, you know what happens when we linger for too long."

The girl below the tengu nods and resumes the climb down to the ruined temple with haste, yet calm enough to avoid any unnecessary slipping.

Surprisingly enough, those long last minutes down the chain were uneventful, and after reaching the bottom they realize the state in which the Myouren Temple really is.

They are in the prayer room, and above it is the hole the anchor made when it crashed through.

The walls and the ceiling are covered with blood, some corners of the floors and walls seem to have been adorned with the guts of many unfortunate victims.

The benches and chairs, and even the statue of The Buddha are smashed to pieces, leaving a large clearing in the center of the room, and along with the pitch-black darkness inside the walls of the ruins come sounds of movement.

"We're not out of this yet," sternly comments the tengu reporter as she raises her camera and takes slow steps backward, and continues "we have to find the exit to this place and get the hell out of here. The sooner the better."

Five mutated rabbit youkai moan as they crawl from under the broken benches in the darkness of the room, all having humanoid forms with grotesque growths around the arms or heads, some have yellow crusts surrounding their eyes, others have only one blood-red eye, some have missing chunks of flesh and muscle from where their innards spill, dripping blood and other fluids on the ground, and all share a left arm that's a massive hook-like claw.

Both living girls whimper and gulp, then Satori whispers "this just won't stop."

Right after she says that, a figure breaks through the remainder of the ceiling, breaking what was left of the roof in the process, and crushes one of the rabbits when it lands.

The smoke clears quickly to reveal zombie Nue glaring back at them with that hateful left eye dangling under her scowl.

What's left of her face is full of scratches, the rest of her dress has been torn and ripped from the abdomen and shoulders, her exposed body is now full of holes and spills coagulated blood like crazy, and yet she snarls to show her newly grown and sharpened fangs and bares her still sharp-looking claws on her left hand while pointing her rusted trident with her right.

Aya gulps, whimpers while staring at the zombie nue, then asks "wh-what do you think happened to Hatate?" and before Satori can even shrug, from the west comes the familiar scream "**BIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**" to which Shameimaru sighs and says "great, she's ahead of us."

"This is not time for joking around," whispers the terrified mind-reader as she looks around at the remaining four mutant rabbit youkai and at zombie Nue, well aware that she and her friend are tired from the battle before, and how they are unable to escape this next fight.

* * *

><p>The rabbits pounce straight at the mind-reader while Nue attempts to stab the tengu with her trident, as well as summon several snakes to block her from reaching her friend.<p>

Satori grunts after falling on her butt, yet flashes the two rabbits pouncing her from the front, managing to burn their skins and cause them to crash against the other two rabbits from behind her.

She quickly stands on her feet and flashes the rabbits while they stand up, but lowers her guard, and one of the rabbits grips her left ankle and pulls her violently.

She yelps and screams while being flung in the air like some rag doll, shoots a single bullet at the mutant rabbit's wrists, and though she breaks free after the hand and arm separate she still flies fast and crashes head-first against the dark wall.

"Satori-chan!" calls Aya while moving her feet around with haste at the same time she flashes zombie Nue to no avail.

The undefined zombie youkai girl doesn't even blink when flashed and continues thrusting her trident at her target, almost succeeding in skewering her arm several times.

Meanwhile Satori groans as she stands up and rubs a bleeding spot on her head, but it's so dark she's not sure if it's blood or rainwater.

Whatever it is, it's hurting her as hell, and every time that wound throbs she feels as though the ground moves sideways.

Regardless of how she feels she looks at her partner and shouts "don't worry about me Aya, I'll be with you soon!"

She's not sure if she's lying or not, but she is sure she is feeling mighty irritated and wants to take her frustration out on those rabbits, but when she scans around for them she cannot see them.

She decides to go help her crow friend, but notices the ground moving and quickly realizes what it is.

"Grr! These monsters are a pain," angrily mutters the girl while looking for some platform to stand up on, but it's too late and the closest mutant rises from below her feet and pushes her to the air.

Aya turns around when the mind-reader screams, and shouts "Satori-chan! I'm comi-URGH!", but having forgotten about Nue she is stabbed on the left side of the chest with the trident, and shortly after three snakes jump on her right calf and knock her on her knee after biting.

The reporter grunts, grabs the trident from her end, then looks up at the zombie nue with defiance and threateningly says "you're going to pay for that, insufferable bitch!"

She flashes the snakes and turns them all to dust, quickly grips the trident tight with both hands and pulls it off, then uses all the strength on her left arm to lift the nue to the air and swing her around.

After she feels she's picked enough momentum she releases the trident and sends Nue flying backward and unable to stop.

The zombie smashes against the wall, cracking it a bit upon impact, then her own trident's back end impales her and prevents her from falling, trapping her on the wall for Aya to flash without pause.

At the same time Satori roars furiously.

She's being flung over and over in the air as the brain-dead rabbits keep popping from beneath her to try and take a bite, but just bounce her back up when they push her with their forearms instead.

Furious, the mind reader grunts as she turns around to face the ground, then shouts "stop. screwing. around. **WITH ME!**"

Her last words come as a primal scream and her third eye glows along with her own purple eyes, but instead of an overpowered flash, five bright beams fly out from in front of the third eye and spread around the room, burning through the skin of the rabbits and bursting with blinding light from within them, breaking them into pieces in the process.

The fifth light flies straight through Aya and goes inside the zombie nue.

The tengu reporter grins, zombie Nue frowns, and when the speedy tengu sees the light within the zombie expand, she sings "say cheese~" and takes one last photo of Nue's half-face before she explodes into several bits that scatter around the room, to which Aya exclaims "whoa! That was pretty awesome!"

She runs straight to her mid-reading friend, calling "Satori-chan! Satori-chan, that was awesome!"

The purple-haired girl grunts with every furious breath she takes, and when the black-haired reporter is close she furiously shouts "I am **NOT **a damned **BEACH BALL!** Blasted brainless rabbits could give **OKUU** a run for her money in stupidity!"

Surprised of seeing her friend so angry, the tengu lifts her arms defensively, yet smiles as she says "whoa, Satori-chan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take that long."

Satori's expression changes completely as she rubs Aya's head and sweetly says "oh, I'm not angry at you Aya-chan," and her voice and expression switches to aggravated once more when she looks at the upper-half of a temporarily dead rabbit, places her hands on her waist and says "it's these stupid mongrels! I am **not a TOY!**"

Both girls yelp when the blood from the rabbits and the nue start to sizzle and fume, then the tengu hurriedly says "alright, let's get out of here while we can! I'm not liking the looks of this!"

Nervous, the mind-reader nods and nervously adds "r-right! Follow me, I think I figured the way out!"

With that, they slowly make their way through the darkness behind from where they fought, and find a ruined door where the bit of light from the outside shines like a beacon.

Quite happy of finally being so close to freedom, the girls rush forward and tackle the door open.

The girls' faces turn blue when fear, despair and disappointment all mix together inside their hearts.

The door they just tackled open leads straight to the doorstep of a large graveyard that rests at the back of the temple.

"A *gulp* a graveyard," flatly says the tengu.

"Of all the rotten luck," whispers the satori at the point of tears.

Aya holds her friend by the shoulders and softly says "we walk around this veranda until we reach the front. Now come on."

Stiff, but compliant, Satori allows her friend to lead her through the wooden path.

* * *

><p>Maybe it's the sound of the rain falling on the rocks and the grass, or perhaps it's because they are together, but by the time they reach the second outer corner of the temple both girls are so relaxed they both feel as though they are back in their homes, drinking tea and reading a book.<p>

Regardless, when they reach that corner they both tense up again and the crow girls whispers "I'll take a peek. If something happens, take off to wherever is safest."

The youkai girl nods, then her tengu friend slowly moves to that corner.

She slowly peeks her head until her eye can see the next bit of path, and when everything seems to be in place she peeks the rest of her head.

While Aya looks through the corner, from inside the walls of the dark temple, Satori swears she hears the scratching of claws, quickly thinking of Orin when that familiar sound reaches her ears.

Before she can comment on the sound the tengu reporter sighs and says "just like this one. It's clear, we can move. And even better, I see the exit."

The mind-reader hurriedly pushes her friend while saying "great. That's great. No come on! There's something chasing us and I rather we be FAR away from it as we can be."

Now pulling the pushy youkai girl, Aya nods and moves fast toward the stairs, and halfway through a girl from behind shouts "A-HA! I knew it!"

The jumpy duo turn around and start flashing the source of the voice, but to their great annoyance, the greiysh-blue haired girl smiles and poses, then asks "what's this? Am I going to be in the news?"

Aya stops taking pictures and casually says "ah, it's the Jiang Shi, Yoshika Miyako if I'm right," then places her arm on Satori to stop her from further tiring herself out with unneeded flashing.

Yoshika, who wears a blue hat, a red shirt, a black skirt, and has a red and white seal on her pale-skinned forehead, stares back at the girls with an annoying casual look.

The zombie girl smiles and says "that is correct. But this is odd. Lately I've only seen other zombies. When I smelled living beings, I just HAD to come and- oh, hi there. Say, did you see some live beings around- oh, never mind."

Understandably surprised out of their breaths, the girls stare on and on at the pale-skinned girl, until Satori finally asks "so, you're not one of those disgusting zombies?"

Yoshika stares casually and asks "um, what? I'm not a zombie? But I thought I was."

Aya snaps out of her own shock and exclaims "NO! We mean, um, ok, the zombies around here seem to have really stinky rotting skin, but yours looks great in comparison. How come you're not affected by the crazy spell virus thingy?"

"Ah, that," casually answers the Jiang Shi, then takes a hop away from the girls, miraculously not falling off the veranda's edge behind her and says "but I'm already a zombie, so I can't turn into a zombie again. At least that's what the tasty lady in red and blue said."

"**Eirin**," whisper the girls, and that's when they notice the many human and fairy zombies with their hands extended in the air and hopping around the temple grounds like Yoshika.

The proud zombie girl smiles and says "she also asked me to bite a few of them but not eat them, and now they look pretty funny. Strange though, they've been like that for days. Should have worn off by now."

The estranged girls stare at each other, then turn those confused gazes back at Yoshika, then Satori smiles as she nervously says "well, um, thanks for your hard work. You should find a lot more of those things inside, so why don't you go in there and have a look?"

Aya quickly adds "we left the backdoor open for you," then subtly pulls her mind-reading friend toward the stairs leading to freedom.

The Jiang Shi stares with a smile, and then suddenly says "oh, the backdoor is open! Great, I get to eat inside now! Thanks!"

She immediately hops away from the girls to go inside the dark temple, then the two still-living girls look at each other and without saying a single word they both rush straight to those stairs, not caring that it's raining so violently.

* * *

><p>As they run down those stairs and the rain beats on them without mercy, both girls feel their tension rise, even though there's no visible reason for them to be so tense.<p>

They silently agree on moving faster, and although tired they quicken their pace.

As soon as they touch the ground below, a pair of shadows appear above the girls, who instinctively drop on the ground with a scream, and when they turn around to flash whatever was behind them they are surprised to only see the dark raining sky and the giant ship above them.

"Heheh, I think we're starting to get paranoid again," chuckles the nervous tengu.

The satori's reply is a stiff glance and a shivering nod, and then both girls stand up to be faced with a new danger.

In front of them are a couple of blurs, one large and the other relatively small, and yet both possess a faint glint that can't mean anything good for them.

The girls take warning shots at these blurs, but nothing changes, and now it seems they will have to turn back to that dark Myouren Temple.

Not wanting to turn around, Aya takes her fan and shouts "I'm not turning tail like some sparrow!" and swings that weapon of hers, sending a small but quick tornado at the blurs.

She succeeds in stopping the two creatures before they touch the visible wind gusts, and take a good look at their new attackers.

It's a pair of pitch-black nekomata, one in youkai form, the other in its cat form.

The humanoid is a female with long greyish-black hair, greenish eyes that continuously cry blood that mixes with the rainwater, her arms and hands are thin and long, her bony joints are visible through the tight dry skin, and her hunched backbone has sharp spikes on each vertebra.

The oversized cat youkai has raven-black fur where there's fur left, the top of its head looks like it's been scraped off, its eyes are two exposed grey orbs, the left side of its torso has a large hole where its remaining ribs poke out, and its left tail is completely rotten and has just enough skin to patch a few bits of the cylindrical bones.

Both nekomata hiss and roar like wild beasts, contorting those feral faces, both showing their elongated fangs and their perfectly sharpened claws, then launch straight at the girls.

Aya and Satori both grunt as they drop on their backs to avoid those sharp claws and flash the feral zombie cats, which roar and quickly run away.

The mind-reader quickly stands up to look at the two cats attacking them, then sighs with great relief and exclaims "it's not Orin! Oh thank the spirits!"

"They're coming back," declares Aya as she shoots another flash at the youkai cat.

Satori nods and sways left to avoid the black cat, then flashes it and shouts "they're fast but not very strong! Let's finish them and be off!"

Seems the nekomata understood what the purple-haired girl just said because they are now shooting deathly glares at the girls while keeping at a distance.

The live girls rush at the cats, catching them both by surprise, and all the zombies can do is screech before getting flashed on the faces and kicked on the stomachs against the surrounding wooden gate walls.

After one last flash the two cats twitch in mid air and smash into a bloody pulp of guts and bones against the walls, and though not proud of what she just did the satori maiden cheers weakly to join her tengu friend in celebration of a quick victory.

But that celebration is short lived, and both girls now find themselves in the grip of one revived zombie Nue, who has replaced her arms with that of the mutant rabbits, thin, long and oversized with just bits of grey fur on them.

Her left leg is also part of another mutant rabbit, but this one is just a bunch of muscles rotting away and dripping fleshy fluids that mix with the rainwater.

The zombie's face now has her normal left half with the bloody eye dangling under the socket, and a bloody right half made of two mutant rabbits, giving her a total of three red glowing eyes, but the rabbit's mouth is no good and just hangs agape while her left side roars normally.

She pulls the girls closer to her and first takes a bite off Aya's right arm, then takes another off Satori's right shoulder, then roars furiously at the ship above and starts smashing the girls alternately on the ground with her new powerful arms.

After being sure the girls are too weak to fight back she mercilessly throws both against the same wooden wall they just slammed the cats against, and where both of them hit so hard their weakened bodies almost break to pieces on impact.

The poor girls grimace and squirm slowly as the pain in their bodies sends several uncomfortable jolts back and forth, while from the distance Yoshika happily calls "wait! Wait, I'm still famished!"

Zombie Nue ignores the Jiang Shi and turns to snarl at the girls, reaches for both once again, squeezes both hard when she wraps her fingers around them, and just as both girls give up, that painful grip leaves both.

Aya grimaces again and breathes through her teeth, then moans "why the breasts dammit?"

When she looks to Satori and sees her in that state; one eye half-open and the other apparently lost, and not moving an inch, she moans as though crying and slowly moves toward her friend.

Meanwhile, zombie Nue and all her perfectly moving joints is no match for the powerful jaw of the Jiang Shi.

Yoshika has taken a bite of the left arm and though shaken, beaten, slammed and clawed, refuses to let go while contently saying "mm-mmm tashtes good! Rabbitsh ish dewisious!"

The abomination of a zombie screeches and screams as her new limbs are quickly devoured by another zombie, and now lies on the ground as one large lump of bleeding meat with half a head after Yoshika rips the rabbit-half of her face off with her teeth and devours it quite contently.

Nue frowns sadly at the state in which she was left in, however the frown disappears and is replaced by a flat expression, then she manages to balance herself on her own limbless torso and starts hopping around, just like the many zombie fairies, humans and odd mutations that start jumping out of the temple with their hands, if any, raised in front.

Aya has managed to sit up against the wall, spitting out blood and smiling at the Jiang Shi before groaning "you. work fast girl."

Yoshika turns her blood-covered face to the tengu girl, smiles, then says "hey, hey, I found a lot of tasty things in there. Some were not so tasty... and you know what? You look familiar."

The tengu reporter chuckles, spitting out the blood cursing her tongue, then says "yes, we are your friends, and you promised you would never eat us."

The zombie girl stares at the two girls on the ground, the rain cleaning her off the blood from her lips as she says "um, I did say that, didn't I? Then I'm going back in there. There are lots and lots of more tasty tings in there. Just wanted the rabbit."

She looks around as though having lost something, then exclaims "hey, where did the rabbit go? Argh, it went back inside! Sorry Miss and Miss, but I have to go! Rabbit is a rare delicacy! Bye!"

As she hops away Aya manages to stand up, though just barely, spits out one last blood goop from her mouth, then bends down to pick Satori while whispering "c-come on Satori-chan. I don't want to die here."

The purple-haired girl is a bit of a bloody mess, and as the crow tengu picks her up she softly whispers "sorry. so-sorry."

As Aya struggles to straighten up with her new load she grunts "what. are you talking. about?" and after straightening up and taking a relaxing breath, she adds "she broke a few of your ribs, so please try not to move so much."

And so she starts to make her way away from the temple's grounds with the satori maiden on her arms.

Her pace is very slow thanks to the damaged state her body is in, but of the two she is the only one that can even move, and so she slowly makes it to the outskirts of the Myouren Temple.

Above them, watching from the ship's deck, zombie Byakuren glares with contempt at the girls, and her energy seems to unsettle the few remaining zombies on her ship.

Zombie Minamitsu, who now has an even larger hole on her head she can't possibly cover, walks over to the zombie monk and moans.

The woman looks at her subordinate with a scornful scowl and says "no, forget about those fools. They refused the undying salvation and chose to face oblivion at the hands of the Master. She will set the two idiots straight!"

Calming down the zombie woman sighs and says "leave Nue down there. We have lost her to the Jiang Shi, but don't lose heart! Captain Murasa, set course! Destination, the next souls in need of salvation!"

With that, the zombie captain with her exposed bleeding brain salutes the monk, then the ship starts moving around in circles, its anchor still caught in the walls of the ruined temple, while zombie Byakuren stands firmly at the front of the deck, posing as though looking at the horizon with those popped-out eyes, when she's just looking at Gensokyo go round and round beneath her.

* * *

><p>Even though reluctant to do so, Aya returns to the seemingly small hut near the Human Village, knowing she's going to need a bed and as many comforts as she can get, including medical supplies.<p>

She manages to open the door and take Satori to her room, and sets her as gently as possible on that bed while carefully removing that stuffed backpack.

The heavy rains has cleaned most of the blood off the girls and their clothes, but they are still wet and in pain.

The mind-reader whimpers when those jolts of pain course through her body, but she's so weak she's unable to complain about it.

The tengu quickly takes off to close the front door and turn the lights back on, using quick bullets on the prepared oil lamps on the walls.

After the house is ready she weakly makes her way back to her friend and softly says "alright, I'm going to have to take these wet clothes off so you don't catch a cold. Wouldn't want that, right?"

As she reaches for that yellow heart-shaped button on her friend's shirt, Satori grips her friend's wrists, barely opens her tear-filled eyes, then cries "I'm so sorry. Such. a burden. I'll get. stronger. Forgive me."

Aya stares dumbstruck at her friend before smiling.

She places her hand on that soft and wet purple hair and softly says "I told you, it's alright. I'm not angry at all. I'm just happy you are alive. Besides, that mutated bitch caught us both by surprise, so stop blaming yourself."

Satori's breathing settles, a smile escapes her weak lips, and after gazing back at her friend she falls asleep with that smile stuck on her.

The black-haired reporter can't help but smile back and whisper "whomever this _master_ is, we will make her pay for every single tear we shed and every single injury we lived through," then rubs her friend's hair and thinks "_tee-he-he! Her hair is so soft. I'm really liking this. Ah, good thing she's asleep or I'd never hear the end of this._"

Later that night, while the rain continues pounding on the ground outside, the girl's clothes are hung to dry on some strings hung around the walls and the ceiling of the hut.

The blood has been cleaned off the torn shirts, skirts and underwear, but the holes and tears can't be fixed, at least not by the reporter, who doesn't know much about sewing.

Inside her room, Aya covers herself with her bed's small blanket while looking through her digital camera, deleting unwanted photos and storing special ones inside the camera's main memory.

As she goes from picture to picture she comes across the pictures of those letters written in blood on the wall at Akyuu's mansion.

She skips through that and resumes deleting old unwanted photos, and then comes across the picture of Eientei's bloody wall letters.

She stares suspiciously at the pictures as the camera blips repeatedly as she goes back and forth between pictures, then she gasps and her covers slip off, revealing a nasty bruise on top of her left breast.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Aya's "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash" spell card was derived from "Telescoping, Candid Shot"

SEP 2 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**I really enjoyed writing this chapter a lot, even if I DID make Byakuren and Nue into zombie villains. Heck, the whole UFO cast are now zombies, darn it! And know that I was NOT expecting to add Koishi just yet, but her participation made the story flow so perfectly, even if it was an indirect participation. As for Yoshika, I WAS wondering how to add her, and how would she be affected, if at all, by the virus-like spell, and I must admit that at first I was just gonna scrap the idea and NOT add any TD cast, but now... well I really enjoyed Yoshika's interaction. Poor Nue though. Oh, and that last bit of "fan-service" was intentional for two reasons. One, 'cause it's fan-service, and two, so we can all see the damage that girl has endured. Ah well, until next chapter. And no, Hatate's not stopping any time soon. Oh, and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fans MIGHT have noticed a small element from that game integrated in this chapter.**


	7. Avoiding the Cold Death

It is a dark night, the monsters outside moan loudly under the storm that continues to shower the land in a futile attempt to clean Gensokyo.

Inside the small hut next to the Human Village, Satori's and Aya's clothes hang above the table in the small living room, soaked and dripping water incessantly.

From within the tengu's room, Aya screams as though being tortured, and shortly after Satori shouts "hold still already!"

The tengu reporter lies on her bed with her arms and legs bound together with rope, covered by a make-shift pair of underwear made from white cloths, just like her satori friend, and both are soaking wet from the rain.

"I've had to do this to Orin and Okuu and even have had to force pills down their throats. You don't want me to get violent Shameimaru!" threatens the purple-haired girl with a small syringe on her right hand.

"NOOOO~! What if that thing is poison? Maybe it's an experiment! That Lunarian is INSANE!" screams the black-haired girl in a desperate attempt for mercy from her friend.

Satori glances flatly at the syringe with light-blue liquid inside for a moment, looks back at the crow girl, and then asks "so~? You injected me with THIS knowing just that? You risked **my** life with an experiment of that woman?"

"N-no! Th-that's not what I- Please, don't do it! I DON'T LIKE NEEDLES!" cries Aya out loud, begging for mercy in her mind.

The mind-reader sighs, places a gentle and friendly hand on the crow girl's cheek and says "look, that bruise is only getting worse. That bone isn't healing and the letter clearly stated we needed these shots. I took mine, so please take yours Aya-chan!"

The left side of the tengu's bosom is exposed and on it the bruise from the day before has expanded and turned darker, worrying the satori maiden even more after sighting it.

Frightened, Aya's breathing cuts rapidly as she tries to inhale, but then she looks at Satori's worried face and involuntarily nods, accepting to get pinched.

The mind-reader sighs with relief, leans closer, then softly says "alright, I'll do this fast. Please bare it for a little while. It's for your own good after all."

Shameimaru closes her eyes and grimaces while rapidly muttering "I'm ready," then the satori youkai positions the needle near her friend's leg, and when that needle pierces the skin the tengu girl cries out as though being mauled by a vicious tiger, or maybe one of those red zombies.

* * *

><p><em>No point in keeping dates anymore. Back in my bedroom at Yuka's hut.<em>

_We are back here again, and the reason for it, well it's because we got captured by Byakuren and her minions, whom seemed like good little monsters. We spent three, or maybe more days sleeping in her ship, she treated us nicely, gave us deliciously warm food, and heck she was very sweet and nice. But I guess it was far too good to be true. She is as twisted, if not more, as everyone out there. She thinks being a zombie monster is a blessing, like that Tewi, and though she claims to care for the survivors, she doesn't mean that! We were expected to remain in our rooms like good little pets, and be catered to until she decided to punish us by ripping our skins and turning us into monsters. Well, after we found **that** out with some 'accidental' snooping from our part, hell fell on us as badly as ever. She sent her goons after us, we had to fight over and over, and then fight some more, run through insane twisted rooms, upside-down and corkscrew corridors. Ugh, but the worst part was when that Nue used my fears against me and had me cowering in a corner. Thankfully Satori was there and made me see the illusion for what it was, and after that, Hatate entered the room, and she and Nue started fighting! Seriously, I HAD to take a picture of that awesome scene. Um, anyway, we later came across one of the survivors in that flying ship, and he tells us how Byakuren had him and the other survivors under a spell. I wonder why didn't she do that to us? Anyway, she can kill them whenever she wants, and if **she** dies, they die with her. What a bitch. Well anyway, just before finding the exit we came across that girl that put a sleep spell on us. I had no choice but to kill her, sorta, and it tugged my heart a bad way when I saw her corpse smiling so happily. Was she really aware of what was happening to her? Ugh, so confusing. Anyway, on the deck, Byakuren and her minions forced us to use a LOT of power just to survive, and when we were about to win, that miasma Nyuudo comes. He was strong, but rather pointless, at least until he used the lasers, which were weak. He was missing something from before, when he was normal. Well, after we escape that ship and made it to the destroyed Myouren Temple in one piece, these rabbits and Nue come after us and forced us to fight, even though we were so tired already. Oh, and I saw Satori get angry. It was a little funny, but I didn't like that look on her face. Well, after we dealt with those, we made our way outside... onto a damned graveyard. We met this odd girl called Yoshika, a Jiang Shi, and she is not only immune to the spell thingy, but her bite causes other zombies to act like her. She claims it's temporary though. Seems she was working with Eirin. That Lunarian bitch. Um, I'll explain that outburst in a bit. Er, anyway, Satori and I tricked Yoshika into going inside the temple while we escaped, and wouldn't you know it, when fighting these nekomata, Nue comes from behind us and beats us up so badly she shamed our youkai blood. We are still hurt from that, even with Eirin's... Um, the thing is, we ended up hurt too badly, and that's why I had to come back here._

_And that's why I'm also cursing Eirin. I HATE NEEDLES! The storm outside that's been hitting since yesterday is still on us, and we haven't been able to progress any further. On top of that, the bones that nue broke when she tried to drill a hole in the wall with our bodies won't heal. The next morning I hear a knock on the door and find these... **NEEDLES** in a baske, with a note that read "you'll need these to recover. Those bones can't heal on their own. Eirin," and true, I did inject Satori right away and she got all better... and then she turned to **me!** I tried running away, but that girl. She's something else! It's like she knew what I was going to do or say before even THINKING it, and even after I managed to go outside, she followed me, caught this grounded bird (myself), stripped me naked, tied me to the bed, then put that needle in my butt! IT HURT! But... I have to admit I started feeling better right away, and the bruise I had on my left breast is gone. But that does NOT excuse that nurse from giving us needles! Why couldn't it have been pills or juice! Juice is good! Um, wait, now that I'm thinking about this, I did cause Satori and me to get all wet again, which means that I owe her yet another apology. Hmm, maybe I'll call it even because ever since she woke up she's been comparing me to her Orin and Okuu a lot. She really loved them, it seems. I'm a little envious of them._

"Aya, you promised to cook today," calls the mind-reader from outside the door, "when are you starting dinner?"

The tengu reporter gasps and jumps off her bed, shouting "whoops! Sorry Satori-chan! I almost forgot!", then rushes outside.

Moments later, the black-haired girl wears a pastel-yellow bandana over her hair and a matching apron over her makeshift underwear while stirring a mixture of rice and vegetables being cooked in a pot on a small stove.

The semi-naked purple-haired girl sits on the table at the living room, watching her semi-naked friend cooking so contently, yet she glowers at nothing in particular as she asks "are you sure about that?"

The tengu girl nods, her lips turn to a frown, and then she says "I am certain. That _master_ everyone keeps talking about has to be Remilia Scarlet."

Satori ponders; staring blankly as their drying clothes as she analyzes Aya's memory, then asks "well, when you link those letters, it does spell _SCARLET_, but what if it's just a coincidence?"

The cook twitches, then shakes her head and says "I don't think so. Just think about it. Look into my memories. That self-absorbed brat will do anything to gain power over anything she can."

"I don't know," says the mind-reader when she rests her chin on her hand after resting her elbow on the table, then sighs and adds "maybe it's her, but from what I can see, she was no pushover, and that probably hasn't changed."

"She's probably stronger now," sadly says the tengu cook as she places the finished meal on separate plates.

She takes the plates over the table, where forks are already set for use, and after she sits down to enjoy her meal she says "I wouldn't doubt the reason we are suffering so much is because of that pink-clad bitch with a swollen ego."

The satori maiden sighs and plays around with her food, looking sadly at the rice and slices of vegetables, then says "no, there's nothing wrong with the food. It's just that, if you are correct and we deal with this incident today, then that means I won't have to see my Orin, Okuu, or my sister Koishi like some... undead freaks. The thought makes me happy."

Aya sighs, though smiles while thinking of Gensokyo being back to normal, fairies playing tricks on human, youkai running around doing their daily thing, whatever it may be, humans busying themselves around the village, then says "that's why we have to storm that mansion and knock that damned cauldron Reimu was talking about."

Satori closes her eyes as she takes a bite out of her rice to see her friend's mental vision of Gensokyo clearly, smiles after gulping, and then softly says "yes. Let us end this nightmare, so we can go back to our lives and our loved ones."

* * *

><p>At dawn, hours after the rain had stopped, the door to the hut opens up, and then Aya peeks her head to look around, twitching at the sound of a close-by moan and a snapping twig, yet keeps peeking.<p>

"We have a fetus vampire, a human, and three fairy zombies on the way," whispers the girl.

From inside Satori whispers back "alright, I'll charge up. You come after me and blast that vampire."

The door slowly closes up, then the satori maiden bursts outside just before it closes completely and glares at the monsters.

The human zombie is one of the least disgusting females out there, with only bluish-grey skin and a small cut on her forehead, the vampire mutation's fetus-like head looks like the mutilated fetus of a cat that screeches and hisses when it senses the girl, and the zombie fairies are small, naked, and all three share a similar open hole on the stomach or chest.

They all rush toward the purple-haired girl, who hums as a concentration of light forms in front of her third eye, and long before they can even get close, five beams of light fly from the concentration and enter through their gaping, moaning and screeching mouths.

The tengu reporter bursts out the door the second the four zombies explode, gushing blood, guts, and several indescribable innards all around the mutant vampire, who along its disgusting slimy cat-fetus, screeches and roars in pain.

"Take THAT!" shouts the black-haired reporter after taking the front and shooting three more flashes at the fetus monster, killing it off for who knows how long.

"Let's move Aya," commands the mind-reader, and she and her friend speed off to the west, straight to the Misty Lake, and their final destination, the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Inside the seemingly small hut, on top of the living room's table is a piece of paper with a message from Aya, which reads the following:

_Dear Yuka or Eirin, or whomever else that's alive and sane that reads this,_

_Satori and I have decided to get out of here at the crack of dawn. Our destination is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I figured out that the "master" these brain-rotten bastards keep talking about, is Remilia Scarlet. Her name has been written in separate places, but it reads the same. **S-C-A-R-L-E-T.** We are going there and storming the place; we are taking back our homes! We're going to have to go through that path near the Myouren temple, fight who-knows-how-many monsters along the way, and... What **we're** trying to say is, if any one of you feels like helping, then please do. We can only guess what kind of challenges awaits us in that mansion. **HELP IS APPRECIATED!** No more hiding behind bushes and watching us get the crap beaten out of. Help us take back our home, **our Gensokyo!** Yes, it is your Gensokyo too. We aren't Reimu Hakurei, gods-dammit all, and you are in this as much as we! But, if for some reason, whatever that may be, you cannot help us, then at least send us your prayers. That probably won't do much, but who knows. Maybe some god will listen and lend us a hand._

_These are Aya Shameimaru and Satori Komeiji, and we are going to fight to get out homes and our lives back. Wish us luck._

Outside, the girls hide between the last cluster of trees before the very long unprotected trench that's on plain sight of the Myouren Temple and the flying ship, Palanquin.

They tremble violently at the rhythmic sounds of thuds and thunderous growling near them.

Genjii has left the Hakurei Shrine and is roaming about, currently guarding the path the girls need to take to reach the Misty Lake.

All the skin on his head has chipped off, what little is left of his beard is so stained with pieces of rotting flesh and blood, it looks like the none-existent skin under his chin is dangling there by a thread, its eyes have turned yellowish-green, and his teeth remain sharp and strongly set on those puss-spewing, rotting gums of his.

"S-s-so? Sh-sh-should we go around?" whispers the terrified tengu, while Genjii sniffs around, making a thunderous sound while at it.

The equally terrified mind-reader, whose skin is paler than usual, shakes her head and whispers "n-n-no. There's n-n-no cover a-a-ar-around. Bu-but we have to get past him."

Her reporter friend points up at the head of the turtle, almost ten feet above the ground, and asks "and how are we supposed to gets past THAT?"

Right on cue, the massive turtle turns around, showing its shell-less back and rotting skin, its stained bones and pulsating organs, then stops moving.

The girls look at each other with surprise, unable to believe some luck has actually befallen them, and having learned from past experiences, the girls quietly exit the safety of the trees and rush straight down their desired path.

As they do, they flinch when the giant rotting turtle yawns out loud, but keep running silently when they notice he is not turning around.

Up on the flying ship, zombie Byakuren smiles as she looks down from the edge of the deck and spots the two heathen girls running past the alerting turtle.

She bows her head and softly says "thank you Mister Genjii. You may sleep now," then stands firmly in place, sneering at the running girls, places her hands together, and then begins to chant softly and rapidly.

Back on the ground, just as the girls gain a good-enough distance from Genjii, Aya celebrates "yes! We're home-free!"

Satori stops abruptly, raises her arm to stop the eager tengu, then grunts and grumbles "you spoke too soon!"

In front of them stands the pale and rotting Shizuha Aki, spreading a yellow mist around her that instantly kills any plant it touches, and if the plants are already dead when she gets three feet of them, said plant turns to dust.

Her eyes glow an unnerving purple, her remaining bit of hair has turned frizzled and white, the skin over her forehead has fallen off, leaving her bloodstained skull bare, her mouth remains agape as a whisper escapes her like a tuneless incessant song, her shirt has been ripped open, the bit of strand of skirt left hanging behind her drips with a purple fluid that keeps escaping her torn derriere, and her skin, though still there, looks stiff and cold, though has an unhealthy green tone.

She moves by hovering two feet above the ground, and the mist she expels around herself seems to pour right out of the pores of her stiff skin and from underneath her sleeves.

She turns to the girls and remains stationary, though that incessant whispered song continues, then without warning she moves toward them, moaning to get the attention of some zombie fairies that were playing dead around her mist.

Aya and Satori take a few steps back, but know they can't run away without risking being seen by zombie Genjii, so they prepare themselves to fight as the tengu says "here she comes!"

"I'll take her, you take the fairies! GO!" commands the mind-reader, preparing herself for the battle against a zombified god.

* * *

><p>Aya moves a few feet away from her friend and shoots a single flash, successfully getting all the zombie fairies' attention, save the one that died from the burst of light.<p>

Satori focuses her energy in front of her third eye, and then sends three of those bright beams flying straight at the zombie goddess.

One of the beams goes into her mouth while the other two drill through her skin and expand within her, but just like the mind-reader thought, the goddess' body is tough.

Now the zombie girl hisses angrily and hovers fast after her attacker.

The mind-reader takes several steps back as she flashes Shizuha's eyes in an attempt to slow her down, and then finds herself running right after the reporter and shouting "MOVE! Don't get caught!"

The black-haired girl nods, then rushes toward the remaining five zombie fairies further right, knocking two after some skilled flashes on the face for each.

The purple-haired mind-reader keeps jogging backward while shooting one beam after another, keeping away from zombie Shizuha's mist.

She trips on herself and falls on her back, and just then the last beam she shot strikes the goddess on the forehead and pushes her back as she moans a pained lament.

"Yes! Just gotta finish her," whispers Satori, almost out of breath as she stands back up.

She gets on her feet to meet the zombie's red-glowing eyes glare and says to herself "she's pissed."

Shizuha lunges forth, raising her arms for the first time, gesturing as though already gripping the satori's neck, then is flashed from the side by the tengu reporter, quickly again from the front by her target, and falls solidly face-down on the ground only a mere step away from reaching the girl.

Her body, though downed, keeps spilling that purple liquid, now also from her grounded face and chest, so the live girls decide to walk away from it as fast as they can.

"Phew, thanks for the help," comments Satori, then lowers her eyes, blushes, and shamefully says "er, sorry I left you alone with the fairies."

"Nah, it's alright," cockily says Aya as she wraps her arm around her friend's shoulders and finishes "believe it or not, those fairies are feeling more like pushovers rather than actual threats."

As she says this, she gently squeezes the mind-reader's exposed shoulder and thinks "_man, so soft. She must **really** be taking care of herself._"

The blushing Komeiji giggles, looks away to the ground, then nervously says "um, th-thank you. B-but we are girls. We have to care for our skin at all times, right?"

The tengu blushes beet red, unable to believe she just though that so casually, but can't help but smile as she nervously replies "th-that's true Satori-chan," then skillfully changes the conversation by saying "er, let's keep our guard up. We should be arriving to the lake soon."

It doesn't take the girls long to reach the small forest before the lake, even with the fairies and the giant grasshoppers appearing out of nowhere and attacking relentlessly.

The girls know something must be terribly wrong when after walking into said forest the only sound they can hear is the scrunching of their footsteps on the ground.

"Careful," whispers Aya, pulling the mind-reader's arm to get her closer, then says "we are in Remilia's territory now. Who knows what she's got in store for us."

Satori nods, and soon after finds herself getting closer to her friend when a bone-chilling cold wind whooshes by them, then says "thi-thi-this is t-t-too cold. A-Aya, w-w-we should have brought c-c-coats."

The cold tengu shivers a bit, yet looks warm to the mind-reader, and when she turns her face to reply to the satori, she picks her friend and shouts "LOOK OUT!"

A large hoofed youkai with black shriveled skin, a large brownish-white horn on the left of its head; its prickled ribcage sticking out of the skin like some spiked armor and red bleeding eyes, runs to where the girls were, making no sound until it's just three feet away.

Now the girls can hear it bellow and snarl, how its hooves thump loudly on the ground with every step, but the creatures with the external ribcage ignores the living girls and continues on its way to the lake, bellowing louder as he does.

Just like that, it feels as though a veil lifts from the trees, and now the sound of the wind and the howling of nearby monsters reach the girls.

"What the heck's going on?" asks Aya while looking around in an alarmed state.

Satori looks equally alarmed, but before she can say her piece, both girls turn their attention toward the bellowing of the hoofed monster.

It bellows three times straight, followed by a jingling and icy sound, shattering glass, then the monster roars, there are three loud thwomps, and finally silence once more.

The girls firmly stand their ground as they stare toward the source of the noises.

The tengu reporter gulps, fearing what they may find up ahead, but as shaken as she and the mind-reader are, their resolve stands strong.

It's only a few more minutes until reaching the lake's shores, and after that, the Scarlet Devil Mansion and that accursed cauldron that keeps everyone in Gensokyo as undead monsters.

* * *

><p>As they make their way to the lake, they can hear the many creatures surrounding them, however not one of them attack directly.<p>

They either rush through and try taking a bite or a cheap claw-swipe, or just snarl as they pass by and keep moving forward on to the lake.

"Grrr! They're gathering ahead to ambush us, I just know it!" snaps Aya after flashing a greater fairy zombie to her temporary death beside herself.

"It's strange," begins Satori, moving out of the way of a fairy's bite and flashing and killing the little bitch before continuing "it's like we're not that important to them anymore. I'm getting a bad feeling."

The tengu stares at her friend, shivers when a sudden cold wind breezes through, then points forward and bravely says "there. We move straight forward and we get to that mansion. We do that and this all ends; we get our home back."

The satori nods and continues on the path pointed, thinking "_she's as desperate as I am, and I **want** to end this already, but what is this feeling of unease?_"

And finally, they arrive to the Misty Lake's shore and stare in awe and shock at the amazing and horrible sight before them.

The entire lake has been frozen solid and adorned with horrible icicles and icebergs filled with frozen undead monsters.

Fairies, vampires, severed body parts, splotches of blood, eyeballs, organs, each of those tall ice sculptures holds a variety of creatures and pieces of said creatures within, some only half-inside.

Though most of these horrible ornaments are scattered all throughout the frozen lake water, the girls notice what looks like a path leading forward, where nothing, save for the adorning ice-domes to the sides are near the trail.

Aya gulps as she looks around and notices not all monsters are fully frozen.

Some just have half their decaying bodies frozen in their cold prisons, others seem to be half alive, and pointing at the half-frozen hoofed youkai half-inside a glacier, the tengu says "th-that's the monster that almost trampled us just now."

Satori needs to narrow her eyes to notice the exposed ribs of the monster inside the ice, a terrible feeling fills her heart, but that's when both girls see it.

The shadow of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, looming over the ice; silent yet terrifying, something that unnerves Shameimaru and Komeiji greatly.

"It's right there," longs the satori maiden as she takes absent-minded steps on the ice, followed by her black-haired friend, then continues "it's so close. We can do this. We just walk through here and we're there!"

The girls fail to notice, but the ice is not slippery at all, yet they continue their absent-minded walk toward their goal, there where their hope for the return of their Gensokyo lies.

As they make their way through the ice their minds return to them, and now take better notice of the horrible icy ornaments and what they hold within.

The frozen monsters, particularly the zombie fairies, all seem to be looking at the girls as they make their way through the path.

Aya stops and says "just a moment," then walks toward one of the ice domes on the side of the path and inspects it, whispering "if there's something in here, I want to know now. Maybe flash it too."

But there's nothing, save for the rippling waters hidden beneath said dome.

Satori ponders for a moment, and then softly says "for being trapped inside ice, the water seems to be very agitated."

The dome explodes and the tengu shrieks, and now finds herself with her back pressed against the ice and crushing a sake bottle inside her backpack.

Her anxiety prevents her vision to focus on what's in top of her, but she knows she's pushing something back as she desperately calls "Satori! I can't see!"

The mind-reader screams and the sound of several other domes shattering tells the tengu they are in deep shit.

The blurry green and blue figure on top of her snarls, and finally the reporter's vision settles.

Daiyousei has no visible mutations, her skin is perfectly preserved, though blue in color, her wet ponytail dangles stiffly to the side, her lifeless eyes retain the once-beautiful blue iris that now look like stiff disks on a set of white orbs, and when she opens her mouth and spills some blackish water, she shows her new small, but sharp jagged teeth to the tengu.

Aya yelps with fright when that fairy thrusts her head with a snarl and snaps her teeth near her face, and when she fails due to the tengu pushing her back she tries again and again, snapping her jaws like a hungry lunatic beast.

"SATORI!" calls the reporter when she finds herself unable to push back the frozen greater zombie fairy that's only half her size, struggling hard to keep her away and surprised at the little monster's strength.

"AYA! I'm trapped!" calls back the mind-reading youkai, followed by a lout slicing thud and the girl's painful yelp.

The crow girl despairs and summons all the strength she can muster.

She grabs zombie Daiyousei by the neck and grips her tight, forcing her back and making her spit more of that blackish water, and with a grunt and a lot of strength the tengu reporter turns around and gets on top of the fairy.

The little monster grips Aya's left forearm, unleashes a set of tiny piercing claws and slides those little claws, cutting ten uneven blood-filled lines on the girl's arm.

The black-haired girl grunts and whimpers from the pain, but ignores it as best she can, takes her camera out of her pocket, and flashes the zombie several times straight on the face, killing her quickly.

Daiyousei's body twitches and chokes, so the tengu girl takes another flash after getting up to stop her from moving, then rushes toward her satori friend.

Seven great fairies, all like zombie Daiyousei, perfectly preserved, though their eyes are covered with a snowy film.

They have somehow frozen Satori's feet on the ice and are tackling her from behind, but so far the girl only has two cuts on her back.

"AYAAAA!" desperately calls the mind-reader when laying eyes on her friend, her eyes tearing up, probably from the anxiety and fear.

Seeing that face ignites the crow tengu to the point that she's no longer feeling cold or afraid, and in a blind fit of rage she silently rushes toward the fairies and shoots her flash.

That very moment, just as one of those fairies lunges to tackle the pink-haired girl from behind, said girl turns her body around as far as she can, which is surprisingly far, then flashes the little monster in the eyes, killing her and piling her body up with six more of her already dead zombie friends.

She grunts as she tries to break her feet free from the ice, then stops when she feels the warmth of Aya's hand tap her back, then the tengu glares at the fairies, flips her middle finger at them and furiously shouts "come at me you weak little shits!"

The remaining six fairies rush straight at the reporter in a straight line.

Seeing this surprising tactic, the crow tengu takes her fan on hand and swings it with all her might, making two small tornadoes that dance around each other, trapping the fairies and separating them.

Shameimaru grins vilely, shoots several flashes, then gasps when the last fairy she kills screams like any normal fairy would.

"What the heck?" asks the surprised girl.

Satori sighs with relief, holds her friend from investigating that fairy, then says "they are still zombies. I already killed three of those. N-now please, help me out of here."

Fury takes the tengu's eyes, but she calms herself down enough to kneel next to her friend and use very small and harmless bullets to break the ice around her feet.

* * *

><p>The girls continue on their way through the frozen waters, now more alert to their surroundings.<p>

More of those domes adorn the sides of the widening path, more and more accumulating as they go forth, but not just the domes, but the icicles and icebergs need to be kept under a watchful eye.

Some of the encased creatures move around the inside of their icy prison, and some, be it fairy or beast, rush to the ice walls in an attempt to attack the girls whenever they pass by, and fail, while some just watch and wait.

The duo keeps close for both warmth and security while keeping their flashing weapons held ready for any other surprise attack, but so far everything has been too quiet.

A light but sudden snowstorm hits the girls, forces them to close their eyes to prevent the flying bits of ice from getting in them, then it settles down, but visibility has diminished a lot.

"Satori-chan?" calls the tengu with a frightful whisper.

"Right behind you Aya," replies the mind-reader with a cautious whisper.

Their steps now crunch against the new carpet of two inches of snow that has set on the icy ground, a whooshing from the sides unsettle the girls' nerves, yet they keep moving forward.

A whisper reaches their ears, it comes with a loud whoosh, and then tengu girl yelps, frightening her partner, when something red flies above their heads.

It's a gush of blood that splats on a far iceberg to their rights and freezes on contact.

"B-blood doesn't fly like that, does it?" nervously asks Satori while looking at the frozen blood.

A large figure flies just above their heads, making both girls yelp with fright, and then they watch as the body of a large bird youkai thuds against the ice.

Aya stares at the creature, a red-crested bird with a long black beak that's hooked at the tip, with white hair-like feathers on its head, ice-blue feathers and long thin orange legs, then gasps loudly and says "that's not a zombie!"

Before either girl can reach the bird, ice thorns start growing from around it and swiftly encase it within, where its body will eventually decompose and become another of the undead.

The crow tengu shivers at the sight, but Satori forces her to look away and holds her in a warm embrace as she softly says "look away. Don't think for a moment that this will happen to us. We are strong."

The reporter chokes after letting out a loud sob, then she nods and says "y-yes, I understand. I m-mustn't. let myself. get depressed like that."

Both girls twitch when a woman's voice echoes around them in a whispering song, both soothing and terrifying, then Aya raises her camera and bravely commands "something's CLOSE! Keep a sharp eye!"

The satori youkai grabs her friend's hand and pulls her to run while loudly saying "they're stalling us! Move and do not look back! Just run!"

The girls run through the crunching ice and snow, feeling an unseen presence all around them that's keeping them on edge.

They jump between two narrowly placed icebergs filled with preserved and decayed zombie fairies that are awake and aware of the girls, all tackling the walls of the ice in an attempt to attack.

Finally, the girls reach the end of the frozen lake and stop, stare toward the sky with their mouths wide open, and after a loud gasp both girls exclaims "**this is IMPOSSIBLE!**"

A giant wall of ice now stands between them and the path to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the very same building that mocks the girls from a safe distance, as if allowing itself to be seen through the ice for a moment before becoming a blurred shadow in the distance.

"NO~! We're so close! There's gotta be something we can do," exclaims the enraged tengu as she claws the wall of ice until her fingers burn from the cold.

"Stop it!" grunts Satori while pulling the black-haired reporter from the ice wall, then shouts "stop that and think! It's too thick Shameimaru!"

Aya's eyes seem to be lost in despair, her hands keep clawing the air in front of her, as if unaware of the mind-reader struggling to pull her away, then whimpers "but it's there."

The satori gives one final pull with all her strength, and she and the clawing crow tengu fall a few feet to the right, next to the largest icicle on the entire lake.

Both girls' eyes expand with surprise, unable to notice the ice burning the skin of their arms as they stare at the perfectly frozen figure of the spirit, Mima.

The main body's eyes are closed, the six snake-like faces are all unleashed, but they are all perfectly still in the center of the ice prison.

The surprised girls somehow manage to get themselves on their feet, and still staring at the frozen spirit Shameimaru whispers "f-frozen. The spirit, she's frozen," then looks at her mind-reading friend and asks "who? HOW can someone freeze an incorporeal spirit?"

The purple-haired girl's gaze is now aimed at the mocking ice wall as she manages to lift her violently shivering arm and whispers "Aya; l-look at that."

Inside the wall is the frame of the ice fairy known as Cirno, apparently asleep while standing on an imprint of herself in the ice with her arms adjacent to her waist and both legs placed together.

The ice makes a loud crack, but instead of breaking apart, to the girl's dismay, an almost invisible crystal gate opens up, and the fairy opens her eyes.

Her skin is ice-blue, her entire dress is stained with enough blood to make it look dark-purple, her eyes are yellow with a glowing icy-blue irises, her four lower wings look like thin icicles while the top two look like massive blades with hooked cuts at the tips twice the size of the little fairy's body, probably a big hindrance to that small frame, and after glancing around and noticing the girls, she whispers "SSTRONNNGHEESST."

Aya clicks her tongue, snarls at the zombie ice fairy, and then says "this little stupid weakling? Let's flash her and be done with-"

"Aya-chan! Look closer!" exclaims Satori, pointing at the zombie with a more straight hand.

Zombie Cirno hops out of the ice-imprint of herself and lands on the frozen water without showing signs of hindrance from her large wings, flapping them effortlessly as though testing them, then points back at the girls with her little right hand.

Amazingly enough, her hair shows no signs of decay; that is until she turns around to look at the imprint of herself she left behind on the wall, and the girls can now see she's missing a very large chunk from her back, where her skull can be seen from plain sight.

The tiny zombie raises her hands above her head and the entire wall behind her strengthens, eliminating her imprint and any possible weaknesses, then she turns around again, her little blue hands get encased in thick icicles that curve into hooks at the tips, then she threateningly whispers "SSTRONNNGHEESST!", while pointing the left limb at Aya.

The mind-reader gulps, takes a deep breath, and then says "I think. it would be very prudent. to RUN AWAY!"

"But the mansion! It's THERE!" exclaims the black-haired girl, staring with longing at that mocking destination that keeps eluding their reach as though purposely.

She turns her attention to zombie Cirno, snarls as she readies her camera, then says "like HELL I'm allowing this little fairy stop me now!"

Cirno's eyes glow, her mouth open as she frowns, showing her frozen and rotted gums and her shattered, yet sharp teeth, then takes a defensive stance as though conscious and knowing what she has to do.

* * *

><p>The zombie ice fairy spins like a top as she moves toward the girls and forces them to separate to avoid getting mauled by her iced limbs or those massive blade-like wings.<p>

"Don't just stand there and flash her," hurriedly commands Satori as she jumps away from zombie Cirno's spinning attack and flashes the little monster, though apparently doing nothing.

Aya shakes her head to recover herself from that shocking realization that the little ice fairy is now incredibly strong, then shouts "sorry! I'm coming Satori!", and shoots her flash from a distance as she runs toward the ice girl.

The mind-reader runs out of room to run and yelps as she drops to the cold ground, avoiding a solid blow from one of the bladed wings, but in doing so Cirno slams said blade on Mima's icicle.

"Ayayaya! Satori, get OUT OF THERE!" screams the tengu when the spirit inside the ice starts glowing.

Zombie Cirno rips her wing off to free herself, another grows almost instantly, and then she looks into the icicle at the waking spirit and whispers "SSTRONGHEST... SLHEEEEEEEP."

The broken wing merges with the icicle and Mima is put into her frozen slumber once more, an even the tengu stares at the event with fright and surprise, and says "holy shit. Th-this can't be Cirno!"

"Wake up," commands the purple-haired girl, tapping the tengu on her shoulder and sternly saying "this IS that weak little ice fairy you knew! And she's really strong against my flashes!"

The girls jump backward, avoiding one of those hooked ice claws, And after flashing the zombie together without doing much damage, Satori continues "see? I hit her with my beams; she swallowed one, but nothing! We're not even beginning to harm her!"

Zombie Cirno stops her advance, crosses her ice-covered arms in front of her face and stretches as though picking up breath, and then she uncrosses them and screams.

All around the ice, small and sharp icicles and glaciers sprout at random, threatening the girls.

"Danmaku!" shouts the crow girl, and she and the mind-reader shower the ice fairy with light-filled bullets.

Again, the zombie girl crosses her arms over her face, and just like that, the light-filled bullets bounce off her and scatter about.

Satori coldly commands "think of a fire spell! I know you've seen at least one!"

Aya stammers, looks around, then closes her eyes and concentrates while placing her fingers on her temples.

The mind-reader grins, lifts a spell card, and then shouts "Recollection: South Wind, Clear Sky -Fujiyama Volcano-!"

Soft magical flames rise around the mind-reader, then she sends a sudden burst of fire bullets after fire bullets, streams of flames, explosive slaves, and every single shot bounces off the zombie ice fairy's defenses.

"SHIIIIIT!" screams the black-haired crow before diving down on the ice to avoid the deflected fireballs, followed shortly by her satori friend after she cancels the spell.

"We have to retreat while we still can," shouts the mind-reader over the sound of exploding bullets.

"But it's there! Satori, it's over there! THE MANSION!" argues the desperate reporter, and then everything stops.

Zombie Cirno stands in place with her limbs free from the ice and looking around herself as though in shock.

Her precious ice kingdom is now full of holes from the fire bullets, many of the icicles and glaciers holding her trophies nearby have broken, releasing most of her captives, and as she watches all this mess, a single blue tear escapes her right eye.

She glowers at the girls, growls, then screams to the air, covering all the holes on all of the damaged ice surface with more ice, then the dumbstruck tengu says "holy shit to hell, she really DID freeze the lake by herself."

Before Satori has the chance to comment, both girls choke when a small force grips the collars of their shirts, lifts them up and throws them ten feet away from the wall.

The tiny zombie fairy had already reached them, and dusts her hands after a job well done.

The overpowered zombie fairy screams again after the girls crunch on the snow-covered ice with their bodies, then rushes at them again.

The live girls only have long enough to stand up before being punched on the stomach by the tiny terror and sent several more feet away.

Aya coughs as she recovers and tries to speak, but her friend beats her to it and weakly says "an attack from the mansion's gate guard?"

The angry glowering zombie takes Meiling's well-known fighting stance and hisses at the girls, then covers her forearms and shoulders with thick sheets of ice that seem to grow from her own cold skin.

The tengu reporter's mouth hangs agape when she sees that stance, wondering if the little zombie will be able to pull it off, but before the thought finishes processing, a tear rolls down her left eye as she subconsciously whispers "retreat."

The mind-reading youkai can't believe what she just heard, can't believe what she's reading, and then sees a fear in her friend's heart.

The black-haired reporter turns to her partner and shouts "dammit all Satori-chan, MOVE! RUN AWAY! We... we need help!"

Before the purple-haired youkai can reply, she and her partner are tackled hard from the side by zombie Cirno.

The ice fairy stares dumbstruck as her would-be trophies fly all the way to the west side of the lake, then calls back all of her defenses, all of which just suck back into her blue skin.

She walks over to the wall, stares at it until the imprint her frame becomes visible again, then she hops backward inside it, whispering "SSTROOONNNGHEEESSST," and closes her eyes as the ice gates close again.

And thus she resumes her icy sleep, guarding her frozen kingdom from the many new intruders that may, or may not to come to her.

* * *

><p>The girls scream their guts out as they continue to forcefully fly above the frozen lake surface.<p>

Though on edge of knowing they are going to impact hard on the surface, both ladies have managed to look over the wall of ice, and to their disappointment, the only part not covered by this colossal wall is the top.

And finally they fall. Their eyes flash upon impact and they can feel themselves sliding on the ice while their momentary blindness wears off, then everything stops.

Both girls stay put, gathering their thoughts and summoning the will to get up and move.

The first to start moving is Satori, who grunts and groans as she gets on her hands and knees before opening her eyes and looking around.

This side of the lake is clear of the icicles and icebergs that littered zombie Cirno's territory, but it is also colder, and visibility is hindered by a light snowstorm.

Sobs from nearby get the mind-reader's attention, then she immediately crawls toward the cries and holds her friend by the shoulders for support, then softly says "it's ok Aya-chan. Don't lose hope," and her voice starts to crack as she finishes "we'll find another way. There's always another way."

Aya remains on her hands and knees, unable to hold her emotions within her and crying her frustrations on the ice below her.

She snarls and clenches her fist, punches the ice, then cries "but we were so close. So close. So close to get there."

She sobs loudly and uncontrollably as her tears continue pouring out of her eyes, then cries "it was right there. I failed! We failed Satori! We-we..."

The sobs from the girls stop when a faint chant reaches their ears, and now both girls, still on their knees, raise their guard as they look around themselves.

"Do... can you hear that?" asks the mind-reader, sounding very worried as she looks around for a source.

The reporter nods, sniffles as she wipes her forearm across her face, then says "I... I think I know that voice. Um, it's, it's..."

She analyzes the voice as she tries matching it with people she may know, and then she gasps loud in shock and surprise and exclaims "it's Byakure-**ARGH!**"

Aya holds her neck with her right hand and uses her left arm to prevent herself from falling to the ice, chokes, feels something pulsating hard inside her mind, then screams softly once, twice, then grips her neck with both hands and drops on her side on the ice.

"Aya! Aya-chan, what's wrong!? AYA!" desperately calls the mind-reader, trying to get some response from her friend who seems to be agonizing from an unseen wound.

At the flying ship, zombie Byakuren keeps staring straight as she chants without stopping, and then raises her hands and smiles when she notices the girls have noticed her spell-casting, then raises her voice and starts chanting faster.

Back on the frozen lake the tengu girl writhes around the ground, kicking the snow by her feet with all her strength while gripping her chest hard, screaming out loud "**IT BURNS! GET IT OFF! IT'S BURNING THOUGH MY BONES! SOMEONE STOP IIIIIT!**"

The purple-haired mind-reader shouts "AYA, CALM DOWN! LET ME SEE! LET ME HELP YOU!", while struggling against the crow girl, trying to pull her arms apart to take a look at whatever is ailing her.

The tengu screams one more time, kicks Satori off, flattens herself on her stomach on the cold ice, removes her backpack and drops it, claws the cold surface, then pushes herself up, arching her back upward and turning her head to the sky, and then she screams.

Her scream echoes all throughout the lake, making the sleeping Cirno peek around with her left eye, then that terrible loud scream continues all the way through the small forest, possibly even reaching the Human Village.

The girl screams and screams until there's no more breath in her, yet she continues trying to scream.

Tears of pain escape her eyes as they lose all their focus, her lips twist into a terrifying smile, and just as the satori is about to cry from despair she sees the anti-flight charm glowing through her friend's shirt, and just like that, a pair of small black wings, half the size of Aya's real wings, grow forcefully from the tengu's back, and everything stops.

Shameimaru lets herself drop on the ice, breathing desperately and heavily, recovering herself from the inhumanely unbearable pain, then slowly closes her eyes, and her mind shuts off while her body begins its recovery process.

From the ship, Byakuren smiles satisfactorily and sinisterly says "see girls? Naughty ladies can't run away from their divine punishment. I hope you learned the lesson well," then turns around and walks away, as if all she did was swat a bothersome fly away from her face.

Back at the Misty Lake, the mind reader slowly gathers her thoughts, then takes a few quick breaths of air to settle her own heart before realizing the crow girl is not moving.

"Aya-chan! Wake up! Aya!" calls Satori, rushing over to her friend and picking her up from the ice, trying to make her stand.

She embraces her limp friend, whispering words of comfort before realizing she is completely knocked out and unable to hear a single word.

The mind-reader then sighs, looks around, and then cries to herself "it's too cold here. I better take her to shore and let her rest there."

Noticing the small wings, she brushes her fingers on the feathers, but stops when the tengu girl moans and winces, then decides to stop playing around and move.

Her plans are immediately put on hold when a whispering singing voice reaches her ears.

The mind-reading girl whispers "I'm sorry Aya-chan, but seems we got company," as she places her friend back on the ice as gently as she possibly can, then stands up and faces toward the source of the whispered singing.

Flying several feet in front of them is the terrifying figure of Letty Whiterock.

Her skin is blue, her left thigh has a horrible gash that keeps spilling thick blue blood, her eyes have been pushed in, her now-white hair has grown down to her thighs, her skin is open on the back from where three sharp icicles grow out of her very ribs to look like wings, and her clothes are gone.

She covers her chest with a white sash that floats around her, which appears to be unable to fall off due to some unseen force, and her lower extremities are covered by her own hair, though just barely.

She lounges in the air, making it seems as though she's resting on the bits of snow that cling under her bare skin, and as she stares at the satori maiden with those caved-in eyes, she smiles and coos, then resumes her whispering song.

Satori is nervous. She can't decide on what's the best course of action.

She knows if she runs with Aya, there's a pretty big chance they will both die or get frozen, but if she fights this undead yuki-onna then there's the chance that only she will die, and that she will leave her friend to deal with the monsters alone.

Courage and resolve fill her, her eyes seem to ignite with resolute fury, and with a brave voice she says "I'll take the third option. I'll fight you and walk out of here with Aya."

Zombie Letty smiles, hums in a friendly manner, then leans forward and shrieks a roar, blowing cold wind at the girls while showing Satori her sharp icicle teeth, but the mind-reader doesn't even flinch and remains where she stands.

She takes brave steps toward the monster, preparing her third eye as she does, and says "it's because of my weakness that you have been hindered. Aya-chan, today it's my turn to be strong for you. Wait for me, alright? I'll be back as soon as this creature is down."

And there she stands, only a few steps away from the ghostly-looking yuki-onna with the intent to protect her friend, and prove herself.

* * *

><p>Satori squares off against zombie Letty, waiting to see what the frozen monster can do, then rolls to the left when the creature dives to her.<p>

When the mind-reading girl turns around she can see the snow woman hiding her long fingers and deadly-sharp claws, making her hands look normal again.

"So, that's your game? You must have something more, you frozen creep."

Seems Letty understood the insult because she screeches a roar as she lunches toward the satori once more, this time bearing her claws and teeth at her while building up snow particles around herself.

The satori maiden cartwheels right and flashes the snow monster, making her scream and fall on her face on the ice, where the snow particles cut the frozen surface as though cutting through flesh.

Satori grimaces at the revelation, and then whispers "another hard battle. No worries. She won't touch me, or Aya for that matter. I won't let her!"

The zombie woman laments as she gets back up, but instead of flying again she remains on the ground, raises her left hand, and a golden trident rises from under the ice, breaking through it and splashing cold water around, and lands right on its master's hand.

The mind-reader gasps with surprise, then growls inward and readies her flashing beams for distant attacks.

The yuki-onna takes a single step forward and appears only three feet away from the satori youkai, but even as surprised as she is, said youkai girl bends down to dodge the swing from the trident and shoots three beams while hopping back.

Zombie Letty cries out loud when the first two beams enter her eyes, and then screeches when the third one enters her gaping mouth and expands from within her.

The purple-haired girl takes this chance to move closer and flash the monstrous woman five times before being forced to back away by a flailing trident.

She grunts as she jumps and moves around; avoiding the quick attacks by the frozen zombie, then slips on the ice and falls on her back.

Letty takes the chance and pounces on the girl, snarling as she gets her teeth close to her neck, then winds up to lunge at her prized meal with as much force as she can.

Satori holds the yuki-onna by the shoulders and manages to hold her back, grunting as she pushes back against the rapid snapping mouth and the strength of the undead ice woman.

She's frightened and wishes Aya was there to back her up, but she knows she's on her own so she must defend herself.

She glowers at the monstrous woman on top of her, grunts as her shaking hands keep pushing back for dear life, then she manages to flash her third eye and send the monstrous Letty screeching away.

The mind-reader is surprised when the monster starts to cry out loud, then watches as she holds herself, mimicking great pain, then realizes it's no mimic.

The right side of zombie Letty's skin sizzles out loud as it melts away, the creature screeches as her blue blood spills, her black organs break through her weakened ribs, and she drops on her knees after the sizzling sound stops.

Satori gets closer as she watches the creature writhe in pain and thinks "_so, the light from our flashes really do actual damage to them. But why? It's just light. Yet look at her melt away into nothing._"

The purple-haired girl decides to stop gawking and readies her third eye to finish the job, then Letty move blindingly fast and launches her trident at the satori, stabbing the fork on her inner thigh.

The girl screams and cries from the pain, quickly pulls the weapon off and drops on her knees, instinctively blowing on the wound that begins to burn and freeze as her blood spills.

She gasps and whimpers, squeezes her knee in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding and subdue the pain, then looks up to realize zombie Letty stands tall beside her, looking murderously hateful at the purple-haired girl.

The blue woman raises her hand, unleashes her claw, then she screams as she is blown away by Satori's large red bullets.

Komeiji breathes through her teeth as she unleashes one bullet after another after another, getting closer to the convulsing body of the zombie, and when she's one step away she growls "burn," then flashes the monster's face, killing her at last; though it is only a temporary death.

The battle is over, she has won, yet she can't smile.

Maybe it's the pain from her thigh, or perhaps something else, but she knows she can't celebrate.

She turns to face Aya, who still lies on the ice the same way the mind-reader had left her, then sighs and says to herself "she's still out. I better hurry before she gets too cold."

Satori walks over to her friend, picks the dropped backpack, then her friend's limp body princess-style, and then starts walking to shore.

Meanwhile, the flying Palanquin Ship burns, and though the zombie captain tries her best to cast a rain spell, it doesn't help against the raging inferno.

At the same time, zombie Byakuren spits an odd yellow goop at the booted feet of their attacker and says "you had your fun, survivor. Either leave, or receive your punishment now."

Yuka Kazami smiles, her clothes, her face, her vest and her bra are all stained with fresh blood, and with a satisfied tone of voice she says "pity I was too late to stop you. Heard that poor girl screaming all the way home. Oh well, I guess I can just blast you now and feel better about myself."

The zombie monk grins, lifts her hands, and then sweetly says "go ahead. When I die, the remaining survivors will die with me, and thanks to my spell, they will never revive. They will simply... ahh, die like the vermin they truly are."

The flower master's smile turns bloodily vicious, and after raising her parasol she happily says "oh, but I know for a fact that all of your precious survivors are already dead and turning," then takes flight, making herself look as though she's sitting on a chair.

The zombie woman gasps, prepares a spell, but Yuka's umbrella is already glowing as she says "hope your little ship is still flying when you wake up in, oh, three, four days. I lose track of these things."

She waves at the bulgy-eyed monk, blows a kiss, then sings "bye~"

Her yellow beam burns through the zombie monk and makes her disappear from sight, burns zombie Murasa to dust behind the monk, and breaks through the small roof of the ship, setting it on fire yet again, then drops to the ground below, shooting another massive beam at Unzan's face.

She lands on the temple's ground next to the unrecognizable, bloody remains of what was Genjii, which is now a mound of ripped and burned flesh gushing fluids everywhere, and with a smile on her face she says "what a good little turtle you are. You waited for me. Next time I see you, I'll get you a treat. Now then, auntie Yuka has something to do, so be good."

She glowers toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion, places her parasol on her shoulder, then begins her quiet walk forward.

* * *

><p>At the lake's western shore, almost reaching the Youkai Forest, Satori rests her back against a tree while keeping Aya's head on her right thigh.<p>

She gently brushes the crow girl's soft black hair while inspecting the trident wound on her own inner left thigh, then sighs with relief when the wound through her black pants now look like small skin cuts instead of holes, then whispers "good. I won't be a bother after all."

The tengu moans softly as she starts to move again, slowly flapping her forcefully grown tiny black wings, making the satori smile in relief.

"Mnh, S-Satori-chan?" softly calls the tengu before opening her eyes, then winces and asks "guh! M-my back hurts. Wh-what happened?"

The purple-haired girl softly shushes her friend and places a hand on the back of her neck to stop her from moving, then says "relax. Try not to move too much yet."

Ignoring Satori's advice, Shameimaru struggles with the pain on her back to get on her knees, manages to open her eyes, and then asks "Satori-chan, what happened to me? I remember... I was screaming, something hit me hard. What exactl-"

The satori maiden raises her hand to stop her friend, then says "Byakuren cast a spell on you. I'm not sure why, but she made Reimu's charm hurt you. And I'm not sure why, but..."

She points at Aya and twirls her finger, signaling her friend to look around, and when she does the reporter whispers "my wings. B-but, they're so small."

True enough, her wings are only half the size of what they should be, rendering them an useless adornment.

She moves them to test them out then curls up as she winces and hugs herself before grunting "hurt. Augh! It hurts to move them!"

The purple-haired mind-reader places her hand just beneath the wings, touching around the small tear on the reporter's shirt where they popped out, then says "the skin around them looks bruised. Try to keep them still for a while."

Aya replies with a gulp and a sob, and though she smiles her tears flow as she cries "some plan huh? That tiny ice fairy kicked our sorry butts, made us realize how weak we are, and what's worse, that **wall**!"

She looks down to the ground between her thighs and whispers "at least I got punished for risking your life back there."

Her sight rises again when she feels Satori's hand on her shoulder, then her friend pats her head as she would probably do to her pets, then says "don't think like that. I wanted to go in there as badly as you did, but we were unprepared."

The tengu sniffles, but before she can argue her mind-reading friend continues "nobody would have ever expected a wall of ice to block our path, but that's not what I mean. That zombie fairy. No matter how many times, or how hard we flashed her, it was like she was a whole shield."

Shameimaru gulps the rest of her sobs in and adds "y-yeah. She even rebounded fire, something I **know** for a fact she normally couldn't do before."

Komeiji nods and says "correct. There was something very strange about her, but now we understand, we can't harm her as we currently are, so we'll need another way to cross that wall."

The black-haired girl slams her hands on the ground, wincing after her wings move a bit from the shock, then quickly recovers with a quick breath and asks "and how do you suggest we do that? Even with your Recollection spell, the flames you can manage aren't intense enough."

The mind-reading youkai smiles as she nods, then softly says "that is correct, but while I was carrying you out of the lake I noticed something. Something that could help us go over that wall."

Aya raises an eyebrow and wants to question her friend, but before she can make one questioning sentence, the purple-eyed girl turns around to the left and points back at a tall mountain close to the lake.

A feeling of terror crosses the tengu as she looks up that mountain, and then shakingly asks "th-the Youkai Mountain? A-are you serious?", but she answers her own question when she realizes the mountain is close enough to the island where the mansion is, and yet...

"The only problem to my plan is thinking of a way of landing without smashing our bones to dust when we land," casually says Satori as she turns around to face her partner.

Though she nods, the tengu girl's attention is in the fact that they will have no choice but climb that mountain, which will very possibly lead them through the Tengu Village.

"I know you'd like to avoid it," begins the satori, "I understand because I wouldn't want to go near my home either, but if we want to beat Remilia, I'm afraid we are left with that one choice."

Aya thinks long and hard, imagines what she and her friend may encounter, but after considering it for some time she realizes the little mind-reader is right; that there is no other choice.

Reluctant, she nods with a feeling of sour defeat in her heart, evident on her frown, then says "The Scarlet Mansion will be in our reach after we climb that mountain, so I guess seeing the village like a zombie-infested hovel for a while will be nothing. W-we'll fix it all after we take care of that cauldron after all."

Satori breaks a smile and a quick giggle, managing to make the unnerved tengu smile as well.

Their smiles turn to frowns when something near growls and snarls, the girls stand up and ready their flashing weapons, then notice they are surrounded by what look like five white wolves, all missing patches of hair and skin from their bodies and legs, two of them having particularly nasty open wounds where their dripping guts hang by, and the one that appears to be the leader is missing the skin from around its left glowing red eye, as well as having the bones on its back bare through the thin decaying skin.

"Guh! Wolves!" exclaims the tengu girl while hiding the pain she feels from her back, then finishes "they are fast, but easy to take down... normally."

"**BIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

Hatate's scream turns everyone's attention to the left, where on the frozen lake waters stands the vicious zombie crow tengu, biting a piece of blue flesh from Letty's corpse and throwing said corpse away after taking her fill.

Her attire is riddled with tears from sets of claws, probably from her fight with zombie Nue, making herself look more intimidating.

Her mouth drips that oozing blue blood as she chews on her cold meal, then roars furiously after swallowing the flesh whole before rushing straight at Shameimaru with her claws readied for a quick kill.

* * *

><p>Aya takes the front, launches a strong roundhouse kick, and then flashes her zombie rival before she crashes on the undead wolf leader.<p>

Immediately after, she turns around and flashes Satori, saving her from two of those white wolves, killing one of them instantly while the other just yelps and runs away from the girls with its tail between its legs.

Even though her face shows her pain from the wings, she still raises a fist and celebrates "yeah! Crows a hundred, wolves zero!"

"Isn't that a bit too much?" asks the purple-haired girl before flashing one of the open-wounded wolves after it got too close to her friend.

Aya chuckles playfully as she regroups with her friend, winces when she presses her sore back against Satori's backpack, and then says "we crows have been playing around with the wolves for a while now. I actually was kind by lowering my own score."

Hatate and the wolves' leader are already up, the other three white monsters are ready to attack again, yet amidst this dreadful scenario, the girls continue to smile.

The mind-reading youkai flashes the wolf in front of her and kills it off, while at the same time the still-living crow tengu flashes the snarling wolf beside her to its death.

The third wolf growls as it pounces the girls from behind, and they screech and split up to avoid a blue cloud with icy-white sparkles just as the monster jumps.

It gets hit by the ice cloud, gets frozen immediately, then shatters into countless tiny pieces after hitting the ground, spilling its oozing dark blood from underneath the ice coating.

Both girls raise their head from the ground and ask "**what was THAT?**" simultaneously, then turn their heads toward Hatate and the wolf leader and gaps when they notice the undead tengu breathing icy fumes.

"She adapted," whispers Satori while staring amazed at the undead girl, then Aya blubbers and points forward, taking the amazement from the youkai girl's eyes and turning it to disgust and terror.

The white wolf snarls, black drool starts oozing from its mouth, its entire body trembles violently, and right before the girls' eyes it begins to grow, its bare vertebra seems to grow blades as its back hunches, then the skin on its chest splits up, spilling a foul smelling flesh-colored liquid from inside and growing two tentacles from within its ribs on each side.

The dumbstruck girls' faces turn pale after witnessing the transformation and the zombies take this chance to rush forth.

Both girls snap out of their shock, raise their flashing weapons and shoot simultaneously, blinding both Hatate and the wolf, then the satori picks the extra backpack and both girls run as fast as they can into the Youkai Forest.

As they go further inside the forest they start noticing how the trees look less and less natural, and how a brown mist, the same as in the Hakurei Shrine, seems to dominate their surroundings further in.

"But this wasn't like this when I left," cries Aya as she absorbs the state of the surroundings.

"I can see that it's changed a lot from what you remember last," replies Satori, hopping over a tree root she swears moved on its own, then continues "and this mist is like the one at the shrine! Maybe it's the reason why the plants changed so much."

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUUUUU!**" screams Hatate, reminding the girls that she and that wolf are right behind them.

They quiet down and speed up their run through the trees, ignoring their frightening looks under the always-dark sky and how some of those trees have flailing branches on their tops.

Several zombie fairies devoid of eyes and with black skins fly out of hiding and snap their rotting black-oozing mouths at the girls as they attempt to take bites, but the live girls manage to dodge the attempts and flash their attackers with ease, yet these just roar but don't fall.

Before either can complain, they are brought to a sudden stop when something dry and hard grabs their necks, then tosses them to the side after Satori automatically shoots a defensive flash forward and drops her friend's backpack.

As they get back on their feet Aya and Satori realize they are once again surrounded, though this time by a variety of foes.

Hatate and the oversized wolf, five black zombie fairies, a beastly youkai with a hole on its stomach and its chewed guts spilled out of it, and the zombie Minoriko Aki.

The harvest goddess' skin looks similar to that of the tree's bark, though slimy and sticky, her left eye looks like a glowing green orb, her right socket has been replaced by a dry vine that grows from within her, she keeps drooling something yellowish from her mouth, her shirt is stained with blood from the puncture hole on her chest, and her feet have large sharp claws.

Aya starts to shiver when she notices the beast youkai is the same one that attacked her when all this mess started, then nervously asks "S-Satori-chan? Wh-what should we do?"

The mind-reader looks around, probably feeling as nervous as her partner, and then whispers "whatever we can to survive."

Hatate grows three tentacles from the hole on the back of her shirt and snarls, the fairies dive down to attack, the beast roars and rushes toward its meal, and the wolf moves simultaneously with the undead tengu to strike.

In a desperate move, Satori places her hands in front of her third eye and focuses as much power as she can on it, then screams as she spreads her arms apart and shoots such a powerful flash the fairies drop and screech, Hatate and the wolf stop and back away, and the beast youkai rips though several of the fairies on the ground, spilling their raven-black blood all over the ground while still running forward.

Aya moves in front of her friend, flashes the beast on the face, then grabs the mind-reader and jumps high in the air, assisted by her new small wings, and makes the rotting beast miss its next claw-swipe and tumble on the ground.

Though hurting like hell, the still-living tengu uses the small black wings to soften their fall, while the satori maiden points at zombie Minoriko and asks "what is that one waiting for?"

"FAIRIES!", shrieks Shameimaru, and her mind-reading friend swiftly turns right and flashes the three remaining black fairies, forcing them to cover their eyes and back away as the girls land safely.

Both immediately duck to avoid another freezing cloud, and then are forced to roll apart when Hatate herself smashes her open palm on the ground, clawing the many dead leaves and dark soil instead of the girls.

The live tengu reporter gasps and shoots her flash toward a single black fairy, only to realize it's the zombie harvest goddess' hand.

The monster shrieks and backs away, her green eye glowing intensely at her attacker, then a thin black root rises from the ground and flicks the girl away.

Meanwhile, Satori flashes the three black fairies once more, killing two while the third one bites her long left sleeve, and while she tries to shake it off she screams "no! Get off me you little creep!"

She doesn't notice the wolf is spinning like a spiked ball toward her back, then when just inches from its mark, the girl turns around while desperately shaking the fairy, and when the monster hits the little black zombie instead of its mark it howls in pain as it is sent flying back.

The fairy finally lets go, but before the mind-reading girl has the chance to sigh, her black-haired friend's body slams against her own and both girls end up knocked on the floor.

They quickly get on their feet, stare at their large attackers, and then grin.

* * *

><p>The fowl-smelling beast youkai is back on its feet and charging at the girls, but instead of jumping they both flash it eyes to blind him, let him pass between them so it knocks the fairy and wolf behind them down, then both rush forth and flash them all as much as they can before jumping away from another of Hatate's new ice clouds.<p>

Aya clicks her tongue and rushes toward her undead rival, kicks her on the stomach, but gets caught by the tentacles, and as though having achieved victory the undead tengu shouts "**Shameimaruuuuu, BIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

Satori's bullets crash on Hatate's body, making her roar furiously and drop her living rival from her tangling tentacles and give up her attempts to rip Shameimaru in half, then she faces the mind-reader and screams "**BIIIIIIIITCH!**" fuming trails of her new cold breath around her cheeks.

The satori maiden gulps and yelps after the zombie tengu sets her sights on her, but to her luck, her own tengu friend manages to trip the screaming twin-tailed zombie from the ground and flashes her back several times before getting up and regrouping with her friend.

No thank-yous can be dispensed yet, at least verbally, when several vines holding odd overinflated black eggplants in their dry threads threaten to wrap themselves around the live girls.

They scream and run away, tripping on the mutant white wolf as it gets on its feet, but getting it tangled along with the bodies of the other monsters on the vines.

The wolf whips its tentacles, howls and whines as the eggplants burst and spread acidic juices all over their prey, and the girls turn around to look at the creature and simultaneously ask "**it's whining?**"

Zombie Minoriko appears near the trapped monsters and snarls when she realizes she missed her real pray, oozing that odd yellow drool that turns out to be the same acid from the eggplants, then she raises her hands and sends those vines and their unwanted prey away.

Hatate now stands next to the zombie goddess and both snarl at the girls in front; the zombie tengu hissing "Shameimaruuuu."

Aya and Satori stand side-by-side, glowering at the two strong zombies in front of them, then the black-haired tengu thinks "_maybe we can have Hatate freeze the other girl. It would make our work a lot easier._"

The mind-reader nods, nudges her head to their left, then both girls run to that direction.

Zombie Minoriko raises her hands and sends another vine after them, this one with a few purple pumpkins, and Hatate roars and runs after them.

Their plan is already failing, and seems they will be trapped by those vines or the zombie tengu if they keep running in circles away from the monsters.

Aya grabs her friend by the wrist and says "piss her off!", then throws her toward Minoriko's direction.

Satori screams with fright, but manages to compose herself in time to flash Hatate over the head and get her attention, landing like a mess on the ground afterward.

The undead shut-in tengu growls as she stomps the ground in a rage, then spits several of those ice clouds at random.

The mind-reader grins as she gets off the ground and runs behind a tree that's behind zombie Minoriko herself, and though the goddess notices what's happening, she's not fast enough to stop the vines from chasing the other tengu to stop the monster girl from harming her.

Hatate spits that cloud before the zombie goddess can summon her defenses, and traps her would-be zombie partner on ice.

She ignores what she did to Minoriko and storms toward Satori, but Aya jumps in front of her, smiles as she swings her fan, then showers her decaying rival with red bullet rings and flashes her five times.

The weakened zombie Hatate frowns, tries hard to stumble toward her hated target, but falls on the ground on her face and hisses "biiiiiiiitch," while trying to pull herself with her claws.

Satori walks to her friend's side, glowers at the persistent zombie, and then shoots her with her best flash, killing her yet again.

Both girls turn to the frozen Minoriko, flash her together, just in case, then begin their walk further inside the Youkai Forest.

"_W-wait!_" calls a voice inside the girls' minds.

They both look around with estranged expressions, then the crow girl points at her mind-reading friend, and asks "did you hear something?"

"_Over here, by the vines. Please,_" calls the voice, then the clearly surprised girls look at the large wolf trapped by Minoriko's vines and the black-haired girl exclaims "it can TALK?"

The wolf has recalls its tentacles as he lets out a soft bark before telepathically saying "_please, let me out of this. It's burning my skin and it just won't stop._"

True enough, the eggplants keep growing on the vines and popping near the wolf and what remains of the black fairy and the beastly youkai, and sizzling noises begin when the acid makes contact with their skins.

"Whoa-whoa-wait a moment," demands Satori, who places her hands on her waist and asks "how come I couldn't read your mind before? Aren't you just another brainless zombie?"

"_I wasn't thinking. I was acting on instincts,_" replies the wolf, then continues "_I don't understand it either, but this thing that made me like this also made me incredibly smart._"

Aya snickers and whispers "yeah, so smart you got beat by a vine," then sighs and loudly says "well, whatever. This is probably a trick to attack us while our defenses are down, so enjoy getting digested by eggplants."

"Come on Satori-chan. He's just trying to-" "_Please! I'll make it worth your while!_" interrupts the desperate white wolf, snarling when another acidic burst touches his stomach.

Before the tengu asks, Satori says "he's telling the truth. He's promising to leave us alone if we help him."

The reporter turns her head away and says "that's not good enough. Maybe if he promised that he AND his buddies won't attack crows again, then maybe, just maybe I'll help."

"_It's you crows who instigate our fights,_" casually replies the wolf, making Shameimaru twitch and whisper "damn, he got me there."

He wines loudly again, then desperately says "_please, I'm begging you. Release me, and me and my brood will never attack you again. I cannot promise the same about the wolf tengu, the deserters, and the black wolves. B-but we'll even help you if we can._"

The girls ponder their options for a moment. True, he might attack them if they release him, but Satori knows he'll keep his word, and yet they are a little reluctant to do so for obvious reasons.

Finally, Aya sighs and says "alright, here's the deal. We release you from this hellish punishment, you keep your word about all that you just said, AND promise you will never attack us, not even now."

The purple-haired mind-reader stares nonchalantly at the wolf and adds "understand that you attacked us quite relentlessly back there. There's no promise you can make that we can trust."

The wolf nods, yelps when another burst of acid hits his body, and then says "_I swear on my honor, I, nor my brood will ever attack you again._"

The girls look at each other, nod after silently agreeing, then each grabs one of the vines surrounding the zombie wolf, and pull.

The wolf's legs are free and he immediately spins around to cut the rest off himself with his saw-like back, and then drops on the ground on all four legs.

Both Aya and Satori stare at it, both reaching for their flashing weapons, then the wolf bows its head, runs away from them to give them their space, then raises its rotting head to the sky and howls out loud.

His howl is greeted by several other howls that come from all over the forest and mountain, and then he looks at the girls and says "_from now and onwards, the white wolves will not attack you, or your crow brethren, unless they threaten you. And keep in mind, our brood does not include those in your tengu ranks._"

He bows his head to them and runs away, leaving the surprised tengu girl before she can whisper "thank you?"

Again, the girls look at each other in shock for some time, unable to believe what just happened, before silently deciding to finally move on into the forest.

Before continuing onward, the black-haired reporter rushes to where zombie Minoriko had stopped them before to pick her backpack up, then regroups with her friend to move further into the dead forest.

* * *

><p>The deeper they walk into the Youkai Forest, the more they believe they have made a mistake.<p>

The brown fog is thick, making it impossible to see far ahead, so the girls must keep their flashing items ready at all times, though having her backpack on hand makes holding her camera a bit troublesome for the tengu, and the trees have all lost their brown colors and turned dark blue instead.

Some of these trees have grown tentacles on their tops and side, but one good flash sets them straight, and so far, those black fairies have only attacked once, leaving the girls to guess whether the sounds they hear around them are their own footsteps, or something else.

"Man, this place is creeping me out a lot," comments Aya while glancing nervously around herself.

"Yes, it's rather unnerving," replies Satori while keeping her eyes on her friend, and then asks "and how are you feeling? Are those wings still hurting?"

The tengu girl stops for a moment to move the tiny black wings, winces a bit, then grunts "they hurt a little less now."

She gasps, blushes and twitches when the purple-haired girl places her warm and gentle hand on the bruised skin of the reporter's back and softly says "mm, it's healing. Try keeping them still for as much as you can so that there aren't any complications."

The blushing tengu nods once and the mind-reading girl removes her hand then says "well, let's get a move-on. My gut's telling me this place isn't very pleasant at night."

Aya gulps and starts looking around herself after hearing some leaves crunching on the ground, but when she fails to see anything she nervously says "y-yes, let's move then! The faster the better."

Satori nods, and as they resume their walk she asks "do you think we'll be able to find shelter around here?"

The black-haired reporter shakes her head and truthfully says "there could be, but they could be overrun by these monsters."

Fear takes the mind-reader, but she hides her feelings well, and for some time the girls continue their walk until the scent and sound of water graces their senses.

They hurry to the source and find the large river is still coursing through its path as usual, yet through the crystal-clear waters the girls can admire the few fish that swim there, and though they appear to look normal, there is a glow in their eyes that says otherwise.

The black-winged tengu sighs, then comments "not even the water creatures are safe," then she points up the stream and says "we keep following this until we reach the foot of the mountain. F-from there... we can start climbing."

The satori maiden wants to say some words of comfort, but knowing what lies ahead of them she asks herself "_what possible words of comfort could I give her?_"

Regardless of what she may be feeling, Shameimaru takes the lead and seems to quicken her pace.

Satori decides to look around for both keeping watch and learning the path they take, but then confusion becomes evident her eyes, then she asks "hey, is it me, or are the zombies around here too quiet?"

Those words seem to have triggered an alert inside the crow tengu's head, as she starts looking around while nervously saying "y-you're right. S-something's not right!"

Though they continue moving, they also look around themselves for any signs of anything that may be out of place, and doesn't take them too long to find something.

Black blood splattered all over the ground, the trees, rocks, pieces of organs scattered around, some stuck on the tree barks with reddish-black blood gluing them on.

"It's like this whole area was some sort of battlefield or something," comments the mind-reading girl as she keeps glancing around and walking fast.

She notices as everything begins to get darker and colder, how her own nervousness gets even worse, then she looks to her friend as though looking for some sort of support.

The unnerved reporter chuckles, then stops in place and anxiously exclaims "shit! She saw us!"

Before Satori can asks who, from behind the farthest tree walks Hina Kagiyama, whose only strand of aquamarine hair remaining on the crown of her head is tied by her large, red, frilly, blood-stained ribbon, and her Aquamarine eyes glow like flashlights in a cave.

Her skin has turned brown, it's dried and cracked, and pieces of it seem to have fallen recently from her chest, where a fleshy coat can be seen.

The left shoulder of her dress is gone, a large portion of her shirt has been ripped off, showing her rotten stomach through a hole on her belly, and though her skirt and boots remain, they look like they are in serious need of cleaning and mending.

She lifts her left leg and the sole from her boot dangles until she places it back on the ground, and then she opens her mouth at her visitors, as though trying to smile and showing them her three remaining teeth in her mouth, and then she hisses long and loudly.

Before the girls can shoot their flashes the zombie curse doll starts spinning around fast and unleashing black curses everywhere.

Aya and Satori swiftly hide behind a tree, letting it take the curses intended for them, and then the tengu shouts "she's going to kill us before we can even get close!"

"Use the new spell!" shouts the youkai girl as she prepares her long-range beams in front of her third eye and adds "when I shoot mine, stand behind the beams and shoot yours!"

The crow girl nods and readies her spell card while her partner prepares her spell, and yet she notices that even though the tree keeps getting hit with curses, nothing really happens to it.

Instead she notices how that black curse mist keeps gathering around in specific spots around them, but decides Satori's plan is for the best.

No hesitation and kill her quickly; thus ignoring the mist and preparing herself to jump into action.

* * *

><p>Zombie Hina continues to spin around, raising her hands and arching her back like a terrifying ballerina, spreading the hole on her belly open wider and spilling some sort of thick greenish-red ooze.<p>

Aya almost vomits when she sees that disgusting liquid spilling out of the spinning monster's exposed stomach, so she gets back into hiding and waits for her own stomach to settle down.

"Whenever you're ready," strongly says Satori after the concentration of light in front of her eye sparks.

The tengu nods and shouts "let'er have it!", and the mind-reading girl unleashes her beams, seven total, to her left, then those beams automatically rush toward zombie Hina.

The small-winged girl notices how the beams open a path through the flying curses, declares "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash," steps away from the safety of the tree to aim the camera at the spinning zombie behind one of the beams, then that translucent frame reaches the monster at the same time as the satori's beams and Aya unleashes her own.

The reporter's beam is faster and forces Hina to stop spinning on impact, allowing Satori's beams to strike her directly, and she moans as her decaying body is punished by the light.

Shameimaru wants to celebrate their success, but feels a strong pressure pushing her hard against the ground and forcing her to release her backpack, then notices her purple-haired friend is also grounded.

"The mist?" questions the reporter when she notices black wisps in the shape of fairies all over her partner, and then she realizes what's holding her looks like a giant claw.

Regardless of what the mist may look like, the fact is that they are both trapped, and no matter how much they struggle to get up, they can't move an inch.

Zombie Hina's eyes glow brighter as she walks over to the tengu, reaches her in an instant, and before Aya has the chance to know what's next, the zombie's claws are already under her belly and pushing her away.

"Aya-chan," grunts Satori as she attempts to pull herself toward her friend, but Hina is by her side in one instance, and in the other the mind-reader is being kicked on the chest and sent rolling straight to her friend.

"Shit. It's not curses she's sending around," grunts the tengu girl as she wipes the blood off her mouth and pats the claw cuts on her belly.

"Ow! She hits as hard as Okuu, if not harder," whispers the satori maiden as she pushes herself back on her feet and coughs some blood to the ground.

They struggle to stand back up and gasp with horror at the sight of several black mist clouds around zombie Hina taking the shapes of Hatate, two-headed dragons, countless fairies, and what looks like a giant horned beast with a hunched back.

The spinning zombie is suddenly standing in front of the girls, and already has the purple-haired girl's left arm by the sleeve readied for a snarling bite.

A flash to the eyes sends the zombie hissing and spinning away from the girls, then Satori sighs with relief and says "thank you."

Aya flashes her camera again; managing to break one of the mist formations, then exclaims "you're welcome! Now help me get rid of these things!"

They manage to get rid of the mist-monsters while zombie Hina recovers from the attack, and as soon as she does and takes notice of what the girls are doing, she begins to spin again and unleash more black mist.

The living girls take notice of Hina and immediately rush to take her down, flashing her when in range yet doing nothing more than just illuminate the area.

Before either can point out the obvious reason for the ineffective flashing, both girls yelp and jump apart to avoid a metallic-purple mist cloud that the spinning zombie unleashes after a snarl, then they watch as that purple cloud hits a rock and turns it to rubble in an instant.

Satori gasps loud and exclaims "a death curse!" then zombie Hina starts shooting more and more, missing the girls by inches, making it look like she's doing so on purpose.

Aya pulls her fan out of her belt and roars "spin, you cursing bitch," she swings it, generating a large tornado that sucks in the mist and curses, and traps the spinning zombie inside, stopping her clockwise spinning with the counter-clockwise swirling tornado, then shouts "Satori-chan! Finish this."

The mind-reader starts focusing energy on her third eye, places her open hands behind it, and just as Hina moans and looks at the purple-haired girl, the potent flash strikes her eyes and she starts to scream and wail.

"WHOA!" exclaims the black-haired reporter, and then she grabs her friend and runs away from the zombie.

The spinning monster shrieks and roars as she spins erratically while swinging her hands around, making them grow in length with each swing and the claws at the end of them elongate.

The fleeing girls gulp with fright when one of those flailing clawed arms slices through a thick tree like it was made of butter, and while the unfortunate tree falls to pieces to the ground zombie Hina drops on all fours like a beast and chases after her attackers.

She grunts and snarls as she runs after her targets, and when in range she raises those sharp claws and roars.

Aya turns around in mid-run, spits the bit of blood left in her mouth at the zombie's eyes, confusing her and making her claw her own face, then flashes her as relentlessly as she can.

Satori takes notice and stops her run, joins her friend's attack and adds her own flash, then Hina swings her arms and strikes both girls with the back of them, sends them flying far away, then laments loudly to the sky and falls lifelessly on her face to the ground, where her arms slowly return to their initial state.

The girls grunt and pant as they get back up on their feet, and stare at the zombie's body as it twitches its last.

"That was. a close one," says the small-winged tengu between pants.

Satori holds her knees as she leans over to spit out a bit more blood, then raises her head to gaze at Hina's body and says "well. at least. we're in one piece."

An odd grainy sound reaches the girls' ears, and as they look estranged around themselves they notice the thick concentration of black mist is turning into floating grains.

"You IDIOTS!" screams a girl from the riverbank. "Do you realize what you have done?"

"Show yourself," demands Aya, but her demands are placed on hold when Satori shouts "GET DOWN!" and grabs her by the collar of her shirt and pulls down hard, almost stripping her of her clothes.

The grainy mist gathers in a particular spot, then bursts apart and spread all over Gensokyo.

Soon after, many monsters throughout the land roar furiously, and before their roaring finishes, a girl wrapped in a black hooded robe walks out of the river and shouts "now all of the darkness she had gathered has spread again!"

The mind-reader stares at the hooded girl and exclaims "one of the girls from the mansion! Please tell us, what do you mean?"

The tengu glances back and forth with a confused stare, while the hooded girl says "ah, the satori youkai from underground. Interesting. As for your question, I will make it simple for both your brains to absorb. Thanks to you, several of those mutated monsters roaming about have grown stronger, all because you killed the one that was absorbing the darkness the Master was beaming to them! Congratulations, you idiots!"

"Hey," barks the black-haired reporter, raising her fan and demanding "and who the hell are you to talk down on us like that? We were just defending ourselves!"

"Wait, she's one of those in the mansion when that magic virus was unleashed," calmly says Satori as she gets between her upset friend and the hooded girl in black.

Aya stomps her foot and shouts "that doesn't give her the right to speak to us that way! And we should be blasting her straight to hell right now instead of listening to her insult us further!"

Before the purple-haired girl can speak, the hooded girl sighs and says "I know, I KNOW! I'm SORRY! It's this damned mutation! It makes me feel so IRRITATED ALL THE TIME!"

The girls stare as the girl slowly pulls on her hood and revealing herself.

Nitori Kawashiro's skin has turned greenish, her hair has lost its sheen and lift, but her eyes and skin remain normal, save for a few green scales clinging on the little kappa's left cheek.

She glares at the girls in front of her, gestures her hand to signal the girls to follow her, and then walks upstream while saying "come. It's getting dark, and this forest and the mountain are very dangerous at night, especially now that you've unleashed the Master's power upgrades."

At first the tengu girl is going to ignore Nitori and go on her own way, but her mind-reading friend pulls on her arm to get her attention, shakes her head, then says "she's right. I can read her mind. We'll be dead if we don't follow her."

The winged girl stares into her friend's eyes and reluctantly nods, picks up her backpack from the ground, yet again, then grumbles "fine, but if she stabs us on our backs, I'll never forgive you."

* * *

><p>During their walk upstream the girls are left speechless.<p>

Whenever a fairy, a beast, or any kind of zombie monster approaches them an invisible force field made of warm light activates, and the offending creature is either sent running, or blasted into ashes in an instant.

"Your fight against Cold Death was a laugh you know?" comments Nitori, turning her neck around like some kind of owl, only to notice her guests are staring at the force field with awe, then sighs as she turns her neck around again and angrily explains "it's like your camera or the mind-reader's eye. That particular type of light hurts us pretty badly, so I managed to make mine into a shield that doesn't flash **me** by accident."

Aya chuckles, but then her curiosity striker her again and she asks "um, what do you mean about 'Cold Death'? What does that mean?"

A cheery smile takes the kappa's face when she realizes she wasn't being ignored, and then says "the ice fairy."

Satori's eyes almost plop out of her sockets with the mentioning of the fairy, and then immediately exclaims "what do you know of that ice fairy? We shot her with flashes, fire, bullets! It's like she wasn't even bothered by our attacks!"

Again, Nitori turns her head all the way around her back and happily says "the others challenge her to see if they can be **the one** that can defeat that little fairy, but her mutation was... different. Her skin and her eyes are encased in ice, if you hadn't noticed. Blocks out light and... well, anything."

She turns her neck around again and smiles wider as she says "not even the Master can best the fairy. But that's because the Master doesn't know, not like me. That fairy has a pretty pathetic weakness."

The girls stare at their guiding host for some time before excitedly and simultaneously asking "**WHAT?**" then the black-haired reporter adds "we hit her with EVERYTHING, and she just flicked us like boogers!"

The greenish kappa smiles again as she whispers "lasers," then chuckles out loud before adding "though that was before you let that darkness from inside Hina run free."

The satori maiden glowers at her host and demands "what do you mean? Out with it or I'll take a look myself."

"**Don't FUCK with me!**" screams the little kappa, snarling as she stops and turns around to face the girls.

She takes several deep breaths to calm herself down, and after straightening up and turning around to resume the walk she says "I am sorry. It's hard to keep myself in a good mood with this thing in my head, pissing me off all the time. What I mean is, with her new upgrade, that fairy may very well be what humans from outside would call a super human. Invulnerable, indestructible, ...untouchable!"

There is a long pause between them, making the walk feel a bit awkward, so the kappa breaks the silence by saying "but that's why we called her Cold Death before. Even without the upgrades, whenever she was challenged, no matter how strong her opponent, she always won, freezing their bodies and keeping them as trophies, testaments of her victory. Heh, perhaps now her victories can be called **overkills**."

Aya chuckles to hide her depression, sighs long and loudly, then says "and we were so close to that mansion, so close to ending this mess, and now we are met with a wall and an overpowered midget that freezes everything on sight."

Satori sighs as she places her hand on her friend's exposed shoulder and says "do not despair now. We still have a chance. Once we reach the top of the mountain, we can figure out a way to reach the mansion from above."

Nitori laughs hard, as though she's just heard the most hilarious joke and almost trips on her own feet as she does.

Understandably irritated, the tengu asks "what the hell is so funny?"

"I'm so-horry," laughs the greenish girl, wiping a tear from her left eye before continuing "you'd have to be able to fly to do that, and we all know you can't. Not with Reimu's charms so well-placed between those breasts of yours."

Both girls blush and growl at the little laughing girl and feel tempted to flash her in the eyes, but they stop when the girl says "yes, flash the eyes, eye-sockets, the face. It's our weakest points, but no, don't flash me or you'll never survive this."

Without realizing it, the girls are in a large village, where houses are built around small ponds and the floor is completely covered with shallow water.

Along with the new sight comes the realization that they are completely surrounded by several devolved zombie kappa, which have massive claws for arms, beaks for mouth, bald spots on their heads, and spiked shells on their thin green backs.

Some of the females have retained their more human-like looks, having scales here and there, like Nitori does, however most of them have their eyes bulging out of their sockets or hanging by their chins, while others have bloody wounds around their waists or chests.

All the kappa share one thing, and that is they silently glower at their own Kawashiro and her two guests.

"Don't worry," begins the robed girl, "they can't get close. My house has the same defenses as I do. Just get inside and ignore those idiots."

And so they enter the surprisingly large house without hesitation, but gasp at the sight inside.

Tables and counters littered with notes, pieces of machines and unfinished projects, rotting cucumbers scattered throughout the floor, but what really disgust the girls is the living room, where Nitori has tied several human zombies and has dressed them up like Marisa, and has them all sitting on individual wooden chairs.

All of them have had their faces caved in by something, have deep cuts all over their bodies, and one of them seems was beaten up very recently as its coagulated blood drips on the ground like a leaky faucet.

"Don't mind them," casually says the kappa as she moves into the house. "As _in control_ as I may seem, I too succumb to my less civilized nature at times, particularly... when I remember."

Both girls know damned well, just by looking at the tied-up zombies, that the mentioning of Marisa may be a very unwelcome and disastrous mistake, and decide to take a mental note of it.

* * *

><p>Later that night, after settling in the house and finding individual seats to rest on, the girls look around the kappa's house and can't help but be amazed of what they see.<p>

Aya touches a rectangular grey machine with two antennas that vibrates for two seconds, stops for one, and then repeats, and Nitori walks in with two bowls of fresh cucumber soup and says "that's what keeping me sane. I have a small receiver lodged in my ear, and with these I can remain a thinking being, though the range is limited, and if I get too far I'll become a mindless monster, like the rest of them."

The girls stare at their host and smile, yet questions remain, evident in their eyes, but before either can ask the little kappa hands over the food and says "eat first. You can ask me later. And Satori, I know you can't control your mind-reading powers, so why are you giving me that look?"

After taking a surprisingly delicious spoonful of the soup into her mouth, the girl in question coos with delight, then casually says "that little machine in your head seems be able to block me out, though not completely. I've only seen fragments of your memory, so I'm not really sure of what I am seeing."

The little kappa smiles as her guests both express their delight over the food, then turns her head toward one of her counters and sighs "very well. But I must warn you now. Remembering what happens," she points at the beaten zombies, "drives me insane, so please, let us wait until you are done."

"Erm, what about the tengu? Can you tell me about them?" reluctantly asks the black-haired reporter after taking her last spoonful of soup.

The greenish girl gulps, sweats nervously, then looks at her notes while she thinks hard of a way to tell the news, then sighs and finally says "I'm sorry, but the entire Tengu Village was wiped out. One of the guards was bitten during his guard duty, and he unknowingly infected several of his coworkers. By the time they realized what was going on, the whole village was done for."

How she wishes she never asked, but now, at least, she knows not to hope to find any survivors up there.

Still, that knowledge pains her, even though she didn't really like that place it was still her home.

Aya bends her body as though hugging herself and looks away, so Satori places her hand on her friend's back and rubs her gently while whispering "I'm sorry. I never should have suggested we come here."

The reporter shakes her head and softly says "no, it's alright. There is no other choice. Be-besides, this is only temporary. Once we kick that cauldron, this nightmare will be-"

"Grrr! That damned cauldron!" rages the kappa, raising her hands to chest-height with her fingers semi-curled. "Marisa... Marisa, Marisa **MARISAAAAAAAA!**"

The girls quickly jump out of their seat and run to the door with their weapons ready as Nitori continues to scream and growl at nothing in particular.

The kappa grabs a wooden baseball bat that has a sharp kitchen knife tied to the tip, and with it she rushes to the cosplaying zombies and smashes their heads with it.

"**Marisaaaaa! You bitch, you LYING bitch! AAAARRRRRGH!**"

Over and over again she smashes the tied creature's head with her weapon, and just like that, she stops.

She breathes hard and fast through her mouth, slowly backs away from the defenseless corpse, then cries "that bitch! She swore the experiment was for Gensokyo! She swore all she wanted to do was make life-giving rain; rain that could cure illnesses, raise crops in an instant! She said it was to make our home a better place!"

Aya wants to ask but hesitates, yet as if knowing what was that which she wanted to ask, the kappa growls and exclaims "she tricked me into making her a damned immortality potion, but the stupid bitch didn't even read the warning in her own stolen book! She even had me take lady Kanako's blood! Do you know how ASHAMED I am of myself for falling for that?"

Satori wants to tell their host to calm down, yet her friend apparently reads her mind and covers her mouth while the kappa continues "then we all got SERIOUSLY hurt by stupid clouds! I even puked my own blood on the floor! That was AWFUL! And now I feel like an alien inside my OWN DAMNED BODY, and **IT'S ALL! HER! FAAAAAAULT!**"

Nitori drops on her knees, breathing harder and faster through her mouth, gulping the air whenever her lungs were satisfied, and then she drops her bat on the floor before she starts to cry.

"I hate her! I trusted her, but now I hate her. Screw her! Damn all the humans to hell!"

The girls watch from a distance as the little kappa cries her tears to the ground, then want to go to her and try to comfort her, but the greenish girl barks "don't!" and forces herself to stand up and sit near her counter, then manages to say "I could be dangerous for you right now, so keep your distance."

She clears her throat before calmly continuing "after we all mutated, Remilia... what a sight she was. Her mutation was limited. Anyway, she came into the room and kicked us around, enraged about Sakuya being dead. Her maid entered the room and eventually calmed her down, but she tipped that cauldron and spilled some of its contents before she settled. That's when Alice and Patchouli started acting weird. Like demented monsters."

"That's enough," sternly demands Satori, taking a step toward Nitori and calmly saying "you don't have to say any more. I think I understand now."

Aya nods and adds "yes, I think I'm beginning to understand as well. No more remembering, ok?"

The greenish kappa sighs with relief, breathes as though for the first time in hours, and after feeling recovered enough she straightens up and calmly says "alright then, I prepared a bedroom for you two. Once that door closes, I will not be able to enter, no matter how hard I try. It can only be opened from inside."

"Why all of that?" asks the tengu, to which Nitori replies "as good as my machines are, they are just machines. If they happen to fail I will definitely obey the Master's command and will try to kill you. Anyway..."

The little kappa hops off her seat, takes a measuring tape and starts measuring Satori's third eye.

"Wha-what are you doing?" nervously asks the mind-reader.

After taking one last measurement and writing it down, and taking Aya's camera right out of her pockets, to which the reporter complains about, the kappa girl says "I don't need to sleep, so I'll be working on something to help you two along the way."

She pauses for a moment to wait for the question while she looks inside Aya's backpack for the old camera, but decides to answer before it is asked.

"I will do some modifications to your cameras to make them more efficient against the threat of the undead. As for that third eye, I'm not sure what I can do, but I will try and find out."

The girls look at each other while their host places the cameras on another working table away from the living room, then the black-haired reporter says "um, thank you Nitori."

The little kappa smiles as she shakes her head, then says "down that corridor, the open door to the right. There's a bathroom in there. You two rest as much as you need, and don't worry about your cameras, they are on safe hands."

She turns around to look at the girls and continues "tomorrow I will help you as much as I can on your way up the mountain. You can thank me after I have done that."

The three girls share silent smiles before Aya and Satori bow their heads to their host, and then walk to their room.

Inside the metallic-colored room there are two large beds, an electric dome on the ceiling lights up the whole place, there is an old typewriter besides the farthest bed, a digital clock beside the closest bed, and further in is a metal door that leads to the mentioned bathroom.

The moment they walk through the doorway, the thick metal door behind them closes, then bleeps and hisses, signaling it's locked, and the girls slowly unwind as each picks a bed and lies down to rest, both wondering what will come next, and what should they expect in Remilia's mansion.

They also question the stability of their host, and yet by the look on Aya's eyes, it seems she's willing to trust her, and without saying a word Satori nods, then both take a quick relaxing breath as they ready themselves to sleep.

Outside the house, the zombie kappa move about, some trying to get close to Nitori's house, all waiting for the fresh meat within to come out and be devoured.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Aya's "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash" spell card was derived from "Telescoping, Candid Shot"

SEP 11 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**What a long chapter. While I was writing it, I thought it would have been a very short one. Wow, I was wrong I see.**

**Well, I know, I did it again. Cirno is THE ZOMBIE, but at least you understand the reason. I tried explaining WHY she is so strong and resistant. Originally, I was going to make it EX Letty, but as I progressed through telling the tale, it ended up working better (story wise) by doing it as I did. Oh, and Yuka's participation was actually a happy little idea that just popped in my head during a dream, so I used it :D.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for reading all the way down here, and thanks to Captain Vulcan for looking over at Cirno's description in the previews. I was a little doubtful of it at first. Also, thank you guys at the "Let's Danmaku" forums for your support.**


	8. A Tengu's Homecoming

**A/N:**

**Warning, heavy cursing ahead!**

* * *

><p><em>Date XOXX Nitori's Security Room_

_When we left that hut at the village, we really, truly believed we'd be inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion already, knocking down that accursed cauldron and all its contents to the ground and taking Gensokyo back. Instead we are in the Kappa Village being tended by Nitori, who is also somewhat transformed, yet keeps her mind functional; though a bit unsteady; with the help of a machine she created herself. I knew she was smart before, but maybe her mutation made her smarter? I'm not trying to insult her or anything like that. Just wondering since her creations usually backfired. Anyway, the reason we ended up here. Well, we didn't have to swim the Misty Lake; something I wasn't looking forward to; because, to my relief, it was frozen. Completely frozen. Of course, we were attacked by monsters there, but of all the creatures we've faced so far, none have even come close to this little bitch (save for Hatate, who comes somewhat close). Cirno's mutation prevented our flashes from reaching her skin or eyes because she has a shell of ice. I could only see the ones on her eyes, but her skin looked normal; that is until she started pulling moves like Meiling, the Mansion's gate guard, and had these thick sheets of ice grow over her skin and clothes. Well, she used those things to literally kick our asses and send us flying away, and after we landed I lost all my hope. Not just the fairy, but a thick wall of ice surrounds the island where that mansion is, preventing us from reaching, and after I saw that I just broke. Not even with Satori there with me could I feel any hope left. And then something else happened. We started hearing Byakuren's voice. The charm on my chest started burning, but I couldn't reach for it, then my back started hurting me, my heart felt like it exploded, and then everything turned dark. Later I learned Satori took down a yuki-onna on her own. Don't tell her this, but I was very impressed by that! Um, well anyway, after I woke up, we got surrounded by white wolves. They didn't even give me time to look at my small wings (which are actually good for jumping higher and gliding) that grew when Byakuren did whatever is it that she did to me, and then Hatate came and ate a piece of the yuki-onna, whose name is Letty Whiterock, and gained the ability to breathe ICE! That BITCH! Well, as we fought them, those wolves and that Hatate led us toward Minoriko. We had fought her sister earlier, but damn, this virus thingy affect even the gods. This is not good news. Well, we had a tough battle, but what surprised us was the white wolves' leader! He talked to us through telepathy and promised us he or his brood would never attack us, and that they would help us, but he did warn us there were some that will attack us. We will be careful about those. Well, after we released that wolf we went on until we reached the river, where we came across Hina! Seriously, she really scared me, but instead of sending only curses after us, she summoned this mist that took the form of other creatures, even Hatate, and they would trap us while the curse goddess kicked us around. I thought we were dead, especially when she started shooting death curses at us. But we beat her in the end, and met Nitori, who was mad at us for killing Hina, and told us many monsters will now become stronger. I felt my stomach churn there. Anyway, here we are now, under Nitori's care. She's even doing something to help us, but... Well, she's very kind, as usual, but her mind is messed up, and sometimes will scream and curse at us for no reason. She also has these dummies dressed like Marisa and suddenly beats them up. It's scary, but at least it's not us._

Outside the room, Aya can hear when Nitori goes through another rampage, and though the door muffles her screamed curses, the sounds of the bodies getting maimed and beaten enters clearly.

Satori wakes up because of the sound and looks around the room desperately while half asleep, and when she sees her friend she asks "what's that noise?"

"It's alright," softly says the black-haired girl. "It's just Nitori again. Go to back to sleep. We're safe here."

The purple-haired girl smiles at her friend, then moans contently while placing her head back on the pillow and sighs "mmm, this air conditioner makes this room so comfortable."

As the mind-reader falls back to sleep, Aya smiles lightly and softly says "yes, it is. Maybe I'll ask her to make one for us when all of this is over."

Satori moans as she moves about her bed, smiling and nodding as though acknowledging her friend, then smacks her lips and falls completely asleep again.

The sounds from outside have stopped as well, so the tengu returns her attention to the typewriter once more.

_Well, seeing as we can't go **through** that ice wall, Satori and I decided we'll go **over** it. With that said, I am a little frightened because to do so, we have to climb the Youkai Mountain. I didn't want to. I truly didn't, but we are left with no other choice. Who knows what we'll find. No, I actually know what we'll find, but I'm so afraid. Still... if we can manage to keep away from certain areas, I am sure we won't have come across the Tengu Village. I don't know what I'll do if I see... my home as a zombie-infested wasteland. I have to admit, I'm not really fond of that place or its people, but... at the same time I am, and just thinking of what I may see puts my nerves on edge. I hope we don't have to even glance over there, but something tells me that is just wishful thinking from my part. Marisa, if you truly understood what you have done to us, I may forgive you someday._

* * *

><p>The next morning, the girls wake up and moan as they stretch their arms with content faces, then the mind-reading girl looks at the clock and yawns "ten in the morning."<p>

Aya stretches a bit more and after another moan she contently says "man, this room is so nice and cool. I could sleep for another hour or so."

From the door Nitori angrily says "well you better not, Miss Tengu. We have a dangerous mountain to climb, so please get ready," then slips a pair of trays from a mechanical opening under the door and demands "once you're done eating, I'll give you your things and we can move. Now HURRY UP!"

The girls look at each other with a bit of surprise, then the kappa angrily says "and if you haven't taken a bath yet, then **TOUGH LUCK!** S-sorry, sorry. J-just please, hurry up."

Again, the girls share estranged glances, but decide it's best to just eat and move on, and as they enjoy some rice with a few cucumber slices the tengu reporter chuckles and says "good thing we took a bath before sleeping."

Satori nods as she crunches on another piece of cucumber, thinking "_this combination is not that bad._"

With a mouth full of rice, her friend replies "I know. Who knew cucumber could go so well with rice.

"You read my mind again! How did you do it?" exclaims the purple-haired girl, to which the reporter just stares back in confusion and shrugs.

Three minutes later, from within the room the girls knock on the door thrice, and then Shameimaru calls "we're coming out! Is everything in check out there?"

From outside, the little kappa shouts "yeah. I'm calm now," then the mind-reading youkai presses the open button on the door and are immediately outside.

Nitori stands in front of her large working tables with her hood down and a straight face, and before the girls ask, she pulls a strange round metal casing with a glass center and a tiny led bulb on the top.

She walks over to the purple-haired youkai girl and says "with this thing on you'll be able to flash and use a lot more power, thus getting more of those tracking beams to do their job as well, without spending that much of your own energy."

Satori allows the kappa to place the comfortably snug armoring to her third eye while the inventor continues "in short, with this around your third eye, it will allow you to use five-hundred percent of your power, but using only one percent."

"The drawback?" quickly asks the tengu girl.

The green-skinned kappa glares at her guest, and then says "using one-hundred percent of her power could cause the machine to break and leave her defenseless for, oh, about an hour or two."

Aya stares with disbelief in her eyes, but her partner calmly says "Don't worry. I'll just use one percent, and if that's not enough, I'll use the same as before."

"Which was?" asks the black-haired girl.

"Ten percent," replies the calm mind reader.

The armor clicks, the led bulb turns blue, then Nitori looks at the girl and says "Blue, yellow and red. Those are the three colors it has. When that little light turns yellow, that means you have a strong foe near you. You should use that ten percent then."

"And if it turns red?" asks the satori youkai.

"Then that means you either have Cold Death on your ass, or an army of zombies around you," casually replies the kappa.

She turns to Aya and pulls her old camera from under her black robe and says "I can't work on this. The spirits inside would eat me, so save them for an enemy, **OTHER** than Cold Death, that cannot die with flashes."

The greenish kappa is met with a raised eyebrow and a confused stare, then says "just trust me; you don't want to use that all willy-nilly. It's very important you save them for later. Will you save them?"

The reporter nods, then the inventor says "good. Now this."

She pulls the digital camera from another pocket in her robe and happily says "but this little baby is a true thing of beauty."

The camera now has a large lens similar to the tengu's old camera, but the flash bulb looks bigger and cleaner, and there's a blinking led bulb similar to Satori's eye armor just above the small digital screen on the back of the contraption.

The proud inventor grins with delight as she says "from now on you can also shoot those beams like your satori friend here, without the need of that spell card, though if you want more beams and power, then please use it."

She hands over the camera so that Aya can explore it on her hands, then continues "that lens will allow you to lock on to the enemies on the camera's screen and send those beams straight at them," and whispers "I suggest you aim for the eyes."

She walks over back to her working table and says "the eyes, whether sockets or orbs or whatever, is our weak spot. Shoot there and we'll drop quickly."

She raises her right hand and points to the air and says "oh, and don't worry about running out of space for your pictures. I linked the camera's memory to my secure computer with a wireless transmitter. I should be able to store every single photo you take here, and when you're done with this incident you'll have endless stories for your newspaper. Oh, and you CAN access them from the camera."

Nitori starts picking up papers and blueprints while saying "right then. Let's get moving now. If we start right now we can reach the mountaintop before dark."

"Wait a minute," exclaims Satori. "Where are our backpacks?"

The kappa grins vilely, a glint escapes her right eye under her darkened face, then sinisterly says "I thought you'd never ask~"

The girls slowly raise their defenses when the green kappa girl starts rummaging around papers and mumbling about how she loves beating the hell out of the Marisa dummies.

The inventor exclaims "a-ha! Got them!" then presents the girls with a pair of cubes small enough to fit in their pockets, and sounding like her old self she happily says "here you go."

Aya and Satori slowly calm down, then the confused tengu points at the cubes and asks "so, what are those?"

Nitori thrusts the cubes on to the mind-reader's hands, turns a glowering face at the reporter, then furiously says "I don't know what the **hell** they are, but they are **helpful** you dumbass!"

She holds her head and walks in a circle while saying "sorry, sorry, so sorry! It's this **thing** in my... **HEAAAAD!**"

The bipolar girl rushes for her bat, dashes straight at her tied-up Marisa-cosplaying zombies, then smashes the first one on the head, and while smashing the rest on the ribs she shouts "**gods, dammit all, the fucking WITCH! Marisa! I'm going to KILL YOU! ARRRRRRGH!**"

While she keeps beating on the zombies and staining her whole self with their blood, the tengu and satori maiden explore the cubes, then the small-winged girl presses a button, a circular opening expands on top and reveals a white light from within, then her miniaturized bottle of sake springs out of it and floats on to her hand, then grows to its full size.

"Whoa," exclaims the girl, "it's like a magical container of sorts!"

The mind-reader nods and says "I think I have a book about a spell like that back home."

The greenish kappa breathes hard through her mouth after she's done with her beat-up session, and then says "it's not magic. I found about eight of these one day and been using them to keep my tools. They can hold a looooooot of things in there and fit in your pocket! Figured you would need them, so I'm **lending** them to you."

Satori smiles at the kappa and sweetly says "that is so kind of you Miss Nitori. Thank you so much."

Nitori's entire personality becomes like her old sweet self after hearing that wonderful compliment, and cupping her hands under her chin she bubbly says "you are most welcome my friends! Now come, come! We must start our climb!"

The kappa girl hums a song as she happily walks to the door, then Aya glances at Satori to her left and thinks "_you've just discovered how to keep us on her good side._"

The mind-reader nods, smiles, and as they begin following after the happy zombie-ish girl she whispers "she's still really unstable, so be careful around her."

* * *

><p>They exit the house barely five seconds after their greenish kappa ally, but she's nowhere in sight.<p>

"Nitori?" calls the tengu reporter, feeling great unease in her heart.

"M-maybe she's at the back of the house," comments the mind-reading youkai as she glances around, feeling frightful, and for good reasons.

The other zombie kappa have surrounded the girls, and just as they think of going back inside the house, the entry door closes up and beeps after locking up.

"Oh, you have got to be screwing with me," comments Aya in a low and flat tone.

"Get ready," commands Satori, and she and the small-winged crow girl prepare their upgraded flashing weapons.

The black-haired girl flaps her wings twice, grins, then she quickly takes the photo, followed by her satori friend, whom just shoots her flash as she usually would, and the combination of the two overpowered lights illuminate the entire village, making several kappa groan and whine to their deaths.

"Whoa! Nitori did an awesome job with these!" exclaims Shameimaru as she explores the digital camera once more.

The purple-haired Komeiji stares at her own armored third eye with surprise and says "and I only used about two percent of my power. That little girl really delivers."

The few of the surviving zombie kappa, a single humanoid female with empty eye-sockets and exposed ribs, that drips greenish-red blood from her hands, eyes and mouth, and several of the spike-shelled, thin limbed monsters with sharp beaks, some sporting jagged teeth inside those hard beaks, screech and roar as they crawl out of hiding and move toward the girls.

Some of those shelled kappa roll up like balls and summersault, gaining momentum in the air so that when they hit the ground they roll straight at the girls, threatening to maim them with those hard spikes.

"I got these," confidently says Satori as she aims her third eye at the attackers and shoots ten of those beams at them.

Those beams spread and wriggle in the air as they head straight at their targets, and all the zombie-brained monsters can think of doing is split up.

The beams go after each kappa, most in pairs, and the second they touch those rolling creatures they explode with a powerful light that kills the targets and any surrounding monsters nearby.

Meanwhile, Aya aims her camera around and can see yellow cursors locking on those she targets while touching the shutter, then the camera beeps twice softly after targeting ten.

The tengu flaps her wings as she grins with excitement, and says "this will be fun," then presses that shutter hard.

The bleeding humanoid kappa and her many shelled friends roar after they see the beams shoot right out of the camera's flash bulb and run straight after the reporter, raising their claws and snapping their teeth at her.

The monsters screech in pain when those beams touch their eyes, expand violently and send a second flash that kills several hidden kappa behind the nearby rocks.

Aya and Satori turn to face away from the front of the house, grin, then both flash one more time, killing the last two kappa with a single overpowered blast from their flashes.

"Man, we're so awesome! Nitori really came through," confidently declares the smiling reporter.

The cocky tengu yelps when a pair of black zombie fairies tackle her against the house.

The satori maiden worriedly calls "AYA-CHAN!", and then gasps when those fairies struggle against the girl as they try to take a bite out of her neck.

Her cheeks turn red as she frowns furiously at the offending creatures, summons some power to her third eye, then shouts "don't you dare harm her!"

The flash she shoots is so bright, the two fairies sizzle after being pushed away by the sheer force of the beam and land in a small pond.

"Are you alright?" asks the girl as she kneels next to Aya and dusts her exposed shoulder and chest, then truly worried asks "they didn't hurt you, right?"

"I'm ok," grunts the winged girl as she gets up, then looks at her friend, smiles, and says "guess I let my guard down. Um, thanks a lot Satori-chan."

"Man, you two are SLOW," shouts Nitori from behind a rock, far away from the front of the house.

Aya picks up her camera, scowls at the only remaining living kappa for the time being, then asks "hey, what was all that about? Were you planning on eating us after they killed us?"

The greenish girl walks out of hiding with her hood up and with a pair of sunglasses on her eyes as she says "I swear, I thought you were right behind me. Took me a while before I realized I was talking to myself."

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe, Miss Nitori," says Satori as she stares suspiciously at the hooded figure.

The kappa girl lowers her hood and removes her sunglasses, then seriously says "it's good that you don't trust me. It's hard to tell when I will turn on you, so do keep alert."

She turns sideways and fumbles with her hands under her robe as she says "no, I didn't plan an ambush, and even if I did, these kappa are too stupid to understand what that is to begin with."

Nitori lowers her head, raises her hood again, places her sunglasses on, then turns all the way and starts walking as she says "well, I won't force you to come with me, but I still want to help you. I also want my home back, believe it or not, and you two are the only ones that can do just that."

Aya and Satori gaze at each other with doubt, but swiftly erase that doubt and replace it with resolve, and without saying a word to each other, they nod and walk after the green-skinned girl, the tengu calling "wait. Nitori, we're sorry. We're coming with you."

They quickly regroup with the girl and slow their pace to match her own, and now make their way toward the foot of the mountain, to begin their climb to what should be their ticket into the Scarlet Mansion.

* * *

><p>The three girls run their way up the river to reach the mountain, flashing the normal and black zombie fairies to their deaths with just one shot.<p>

A small fox-like creature with half of its tail broken off, a sliced left eye bleeding orange goop, and missing several patches of skin, bounces off the trees and branches to catch up to the satori maiden, but the small-winged tengu smacks it on the face with her fan, shattering its snout, then flashes it at point-blank range, making it yelp as it dies.

"Man, these are awesome Nitori," exclaims Aya.

"Indeed," softly says Satori, who flashes a hissing black fairy that's missing half of her head and has her tiny black dried brain exposed, and as it splats on the ground she finishes "I'm not even trying to hit them hard and they die in one shot."

"**GET BACK,**" screams the greenish semi-scaled kappa, who grabs both girls by the back of their shirts and pulls them behind a thick reddish tree.

She shushes the girls before they can speak and nervously whispers "don't let them see us!"

The girls suddenly feel the floor beneath them tremble along thundering thumps, a loud and deafening hiss, and loud flapping of wings.

They cover their mouths as they shiver and whimper uncontrollably when from the foot of the mountain comes a giant lizard-like monster and an equally gigantic zombie fairy.

The lizard has a giant head and a massive pair of clawed legs, its skin has uneven scales all over, its jagged teeth look like polished saws, the skin on its back seems to have been bitten off by something even bigger, and its bleeding intestines hang from its derriere, dragging a set of organs that look like stones.

The fairy has several strands of golden hair hanging from her rotting head, her left eye has been caved in, her right eye seems was recently pulled off and the socket continues to bleed profusely, her glassy sharp wings seem to slice the air itself, and her long, thin limbs sport bleeding thorns all over and are covered with the skins and organs of other creatures its maimed.

The two monstrous figures continue their way down the river, then Nitori finally speaks "dammit, that was far more power than I initially thought. You two are lucky I upgraded your flashers there."

"W-wh-what the hell were those things?" shakingly asks Aya with a bluish-tint around her nose.

Satori shivers as she tries to look around, grabs her partner and grips her tight in a safety embrace, then shakingly asks "tha-tha-those wouldn't b-be the u-u-u-up-?"

Not waiting for the girl to ask her question, the zombie-ish kappa nods and says "yup. And those are just two of the possible **thousands** that are roaming around. You two will need to be **EXTRA** careful from now on."

She grabs the tengu's shoulder and pulls her up, signaling her to move, and holding the mind-reader like a princess, the black-haired girl stands and starts running after Nitori, who continues "and don't think all show those kind of mutations. I bet those like Cold Death can hide their new forms and unleash them when they feel it's needed."

The girls look at each other and gulp, then the satori maiden says "th-thank goodness we have you to help," and then they stop running.

The small-winged reporter gently places her friend back on her own feet and all three look upon a small path near the waterfall at the foot of the mountain.

They continue gazing upward until they notice how the appearance of the mountain becomes darker as it gets closer to the unnatural brown clouds, and then Aya softly says "thi-... This isn't my home. It can't be."

The foliage that used to add a touch of beauty to the rocky terrains is gone, replaced by blood-splatters, oozing yellow substances that seem to come from the rocks themselves, moving vines and roots, and what look like lost lamenting spirits that cry as they hover next to the surface.

The kappa turns around lowers her hood, removes her sunglasses, and with a glowering face she softly says "no. This isn't **our** home anymore Miss Aya. This is now the home of monsters."

She turns around and begins walking toward the path leading up, pockets the sunglasses, and says "those clouds have also brought an unnatural and vengeful life to the mountain. Flashes, guns nor danmaku will work on it, but they can help slow down its attacks. Stay fucking **SHARP!**"

The girls look at each other, hoping for either one to say something encouraging, ignoring the repeated apologies from their zombie-like ally, but neither can say a word, and just follow after the robed girl.

Their way up the mountain is quiet and quick through the spiraling path, until they finally reach the end of it, and looking up the rocky climb Nitori says "well, this is where it's starts getting a little rough. Keep your flashers ready and keep alert. I believe it's about time for the crows to start waking up."

The mention of those creatures sets Aya into an alarmed state, and as she looks around with fright Satori places her warm hand on the nervous crow tengu's shoulder and says "come Aya-chan. The faster we do this, the better it will be for all of us."

The winged girl manages to look at her friend in the eyes, then walks over to the wall and looks up at the kappa, who is already a good way up, and grips a small ledge on the rock to begin her climb.

They all reach the next part of the road above of where it had stopped, and only took fifteen minutes to do so.

"Come! We only have two more climbs and it's smooth trails after that," eagerly says Nitori.

She takes the first step forward and stops with a quick gasp, to which the mind-reader asks "what's the matter Miss Nitori?"

The kappa girl pulls a large silver rifle with a red scope on top, kneels as she takes aim directly in front, and whispers "fucking shits from hell, I wasn't expecting her to be here! It's the yamabiko."

The girls immediately ready their flashing weapons and notice the yellow glow on the warning led bulbs and gulp.

In front of them is a massive frame with a heavily muscled body covered in fur with a hunched back, overstretched pink clothes, and walking around on its bulky arms like an orangutan.

On her head is a mop of green hair between two large floppy brown ears, her mouth is a hole with broken teeth beneath, which seem to have blown up from within, her chest and left arm are full of cuts, and though flesh seems to pour from within, no blood or liquids can be seen from them, and her right hand is twice the size of her head and has spike-like claws on the tips of the fingers.

Before the monstrous Kyouko Kasodani notices the girls, Nitori shoots her rifle and sends a glowing bullet at the monster that pierces the skin of her bulky back and explodes with a powerfully bright flash from beneath her skin, opening a new hole of dry flesh on the right side of her back.

The monstrous yamabiko roars in pain and jumps around as she tries to reach the hole on her back, then ignores it and turns her full attention on the girls, growling softly as she stares at her prey.

Before the other girls can complain about that sudden attack, the greenish kappa angrily says "she already saw us so **shut the HELL up!** But whatever, another shot from this baby and she's down for good! Ready your own weapons, just in case."

"Hey; the tengu and the satori! I finally found you," exclaims the annoyingly familiar voice of Marisa, who causes Nitori to looks to the witch and ignore the yamabiko monster.

The kappa stands up, lowers her weapon, her eyes fill with so much blood she starts bleeding through them, her teeth become jagged, her mouth spreads wider as she snarls, then she opens her robe to reveal her naked body, and its entire left side is just some bones with dry bits of flesh somehow clinging on them, while the right is slightly covered in scales and black moss, and several small knives and guns are fitted inside pockets under the robe.

The zombie kappa screeches at the top of her lungs, snarls at the witch afterward, then shouts "**KIRISAMEEEEEEEEEEEE!**"

The black and white immortal zombie hovers on her broom twelve feet away from the mountain, glaring at the girls as she says "I've been looking everywhere for you t- Wait, that voice?"

Aya and Satori raise their flashing weapons at the witch, then remember the yamabiko monster, and can't seem to decide who to keep their sights on, then the black-haired crow shouts "g-get the hell out of here, you!"

"**NO! THAT BITCH IS MINE!**" furiously screams the kappa, to which Marisa nervously replies "oh shit! N-Nitori! Er, hey there girlfriend. Um, how's life treating 'ya?"

"**YOU LYING BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!**" screams Nitori as she shoots bullets from her rifle and takes a small gun from her arsenal and shoots a massive laser from it.

The zombie girl sways left and right to dodge the attacks, and then literally cracks a smile as she asks "erm, you're not still mad at me about that little lie, right?"

The witch screams "**OH SHIT!**" as she takes a violent turn to avoid a second massive laser of pure white, then she takes off, away from the forest.

The half-skinned kappa screams "**DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAYYYYYYYY!**", causing the mountain to tremble a bit with the echo of her own voice, then she jumps and slides down the rocky surface while shooting at the fleeing witch and screaming "**COME BAAAAAAACK! YOUR NECK! I WANT YOUR FUCKING NEEEEEEECK!**"

"**WAIT! NITORIIII! You are our best frieeeeeend! COME BAAAAACK,**" desperately shouts Aya, but the kappa now has a mission priority, and ignores the calls from the tengu.

Satori frightfully calls "Aya-chan, we got a problem now!", as she points at the snarling muscular monster Kyouko.

The girls freeze when the monster starts moving slowly toward them, taking in as much air as possible from that hole on her mouth, expanding her body twice its size, then the reporter raises her camera and flashes her eyes, forcing her to scream and release all the stored air and writhe around while covering her eyes.

"Run! NOW!" commands the girl, and she and her purple-haired partner run past the roaring monster and move further inside the mountain.

Kyouko recovers, snarls while glowering at the girls, then runs after them both like a wild animal protecting its territory.

* * *

><p>The girls aren't sure, but the deeper and higher they run up the mountain's trail, the more they feel as if the mountain itself is growling at them.<p>

But they are more preoccupied about the giant monster chasing after them and still going strong after countless flashes and beams have been shot at her.

"Why won't she **fall?**" screams Aya after jumping over a puddle of yellow goop that flows from underneath a large grey rock.

Satori shoots several bullets at the rock, causing it to explode just as Kyouko is passing through, slowing her down with the viscous yellow substance from within, then shouts "just keep running until we can find some wider ground away from this edge to face her."

The ground beneath them starts moving on its own, the air around them vibrates with an incessant grumbling, and they watch in awe in front of them as some dark roots lift up large pieces of rock and start hammering the narrow path.

The black-haired tengu look up as those rocks are lifted off the ground and smashed again and again, then groans and says "for the love of- Rargh! Even the damned mountain's trying to kill us now!"

"Miss Nitori did warn us. We'll have to slow it's attacks down and keep moving," starts the mind-reader as she looks back at the monstrous Kyouko, who keeps struggling with the yellow goop as she tries to move forward, then finishes "we shoot and move! Shoot and move!"

They run close to the first hammering rock, and the reporter takes her fan from her belt and swings it hard, stopping it from falling with one of her tornadoes.

As they move forward, the mind-reader shoots several hearts at the second rock, forcing it against the third and tangling the roots for safe passage.

They reach the fourth rock right after it crashes down and the winged girl automatically flashes it, and again the whole area around the girls rumbles along with a growl and the fourth and fifth rocks rise up and stay still.

The girls run through and come across the last hammering rock, this one smashing the ground furiously without pause, so the purple-haired girl charges some magic in front of her palms above her head and some light in front of her third eye, then unleashes her bullets along a bright flash.

After the bullets and the flash hit the root, it releases the rock as it stiffens, then the girls run through and find a path leading within the mountain.

"This is it," comments Satori. "Let's get off the edge and prepare an ambush on that monster."

Aya nods, and they run into a wide valley to plan an attack, but then black-haired reporter stops, rapidly looks around, and then nervously asks "c-can you hear that?"

The satori maiden looks at her friend with curiosity, and before long she can hear cawing coming from the sky.

"I-... I-It's the crows," whimpers the tengu, and both girls look up at a black cloud in the sky and start shooting straight beams at it.

The undead crows, though winged, have lost the skin from around the necks and the feathers from their chests and abdomens.

Some have lost their eyes, which seems were pecked off, others seem to bleed through their beaks without stop and use that blood as projectiles aimed at the faces of the girls.

"Here they come," shouts Komeiji, and focuses on flashing the large group of blood-spitting, cawing birds and moving to avoid being touched by those projectiles.

Their flashes take down up to eight at a time, and yet it seems they are doing little to dwindle their numbers, and now the monstrous Kyouko roars from above the valley so loud, even the crows themselves lose their balance because of the sound waves.

"Oh shit," curses Aya, "it's the monster again!"

She fails to notice one of those blood projectiles headed straight at her, but Satori pushes her away and gets hit on her exposed shoulder instead.

The mind-reader's skin sizzles and she screams as she falls to the ground when that burning blood touches her bone in just a second.

As if knowing what to do, the tengu reporter shoots her flash at the blood-ball and it immediately turns to ashes, but leaves the satori's bone exposed and said girl crying in pain on the ground.

Aya grabs hold of her friend around the back and lifts her up, then shouts "it's ok! It's ok! I got 'cha! I'll get you out of here!"

She looks around, despair taking her as her mind-reading friend cries out loud from the pain, then whispers to herself "somehow. I'll save you."

The tengu starts flashing left and right, taking large groups of eight, and up to ten crows at once, finally dwindling their numbers, then one of the crows comes from behind and cuts her left shoulder with its talons, breaking off her remaining sleeve.

She winces in pain then glowers at her attacker, but her face swiftly changes when she realizes the one that got her is her old familiar.

It has grown twice its old size, its back is full of scratches and fungi, its wings have become razor-sharp, and its eyes glow scarlet as it turns to look at its old master with hatred.

"No," she whispers in disbelief, unable to grasp the truth of what she is seeing, and has forgotten about the other crows, the monstrous Kyouko, and even her crying friend holding on to her shoulders.

"WAIT!" calls the small-winged girl when the crows all leave, then she gasps when she realizes her mistake and turns to face the yamabiko, failing to find her up the mountain, but succeeding on finding her only seven feet away in front of her and her friend.

The monster's body is expanded, her eyes are glowing bright yellow, and before the tengu has a chance to think, the monster screams at the top of her lungs, sending a violent and powerful sound wave that sends both girls flying backward to deeper parts of the mountain.

After she stops screaming, Kyouko looks up at the girls and growls sadly as she watches them become smaller in the distance, then starts whimpering as she looks back down.

A tear of blood escapes her left eye and she raises her head up and shouts a sad "**yahoooooowl!**", then turns around and slowly makes her way back from where she came.

* * *

><p>The girls fly backward for a whole minute before the winged girl starts thinking of a way to at least slow down, but both stop suddenly when their backs smash against a solid rocky wall.<p>

They cough upon impact, Satori spitting a bit of blood and being unable to scream when that exposed singed shoulder bone touches the rock, and Aya almost dropping her camera, but managing to hold it tight against her stomach.

They begin to slide down and all their minds can do is wonder how long it will take for them to finally hit the bottom.

But the proud tengu will not take it, so she wraps her arm under the satori maiden's and kicks off the wall, then says to her whimpering friend "just hold on for a minute."

She spreads her small wings and starts gliding down toward a clean platform that rests next to the mountain wall they just kicked out of.

Shameimaru's face turns pale when she realizes where they are, but the whimpering of her friend steels her resolve, and with a twist of her back and her wings she begins a slow spiraling decent.

Unable to control the speed of their landing, the reporter alerts "brace yourself!" and when her feet touch the ground she and Komeiji tumble once and end up flat on their backs.

The mind-reader yelps loudly, and then sobs while holding her right arm as she attempts to assimilate with the pain, and Aya quickly gets on her feet and pockets her camera to rush and treat her friend.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, that was too rough," whispers the black-haired girl as she kneels and fans her partner's shoulder to help ease her pain, and watches with amazement as that bone suddenly starts getting covered by tendons, muscles and veins.

"Even for a youkai," softly admires the reporter "this is amazing."

As soon as skin starts growing over the new shoulder, the satori maiden can feel as the pain subsides, then takes a deep breath, turns over to her side to spit out a bit of blood from her mouth, and then says "m-maybe it has to do w-with that virus thing."

Her friend remains quiet, so the mind-reading youkai decides to get on her knees and look around while asking "where are we?"

Behind her are a network of natural bridges on the mountain surface, some too narrow to tread safely, while in front of her stands a massive marble gate adorned with golden leaves and vines around the arcs, set against a massive whitish rock formation.

The right door has been blown off the top hinges, and hangs by a miracle with just two remaining hinges on the bottom, while the left door, white and adorned with black and gold symbols, remains open and intact to damage, save for a few splatters of blood near its bottom.

Satori covers her mouth when she gasps upon realizing where she is, then looks at her friend and softly says "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright," softly says Aya as she gazes upon those dreaded gates, and resigned to her fate she sighs.

She turns around to look at her friend with a sad and defeated smile, rips off the dangling useless left sleeve, and says "welcome... to the Tengu Village."

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this is the only way?" asks the purple-haired girl as she and her friend walk through the large gates.<p>

She can see it in the crow girl's eyes. She doesn't even want to look within, and yet is forcing herself to do so.

Satori grabs her friend's shoulder and pulls lightly, trying to make her stop to no avail, then says "look, we can just go down and climb again from the start. Please, you're suffering needlessly!"

Without turning around or stopping, the small-winged reporter softly replies "this is something we must do. If we do as you say, we might as well go back to Nitori's house. Don't worry about me and keep a sharp eye."

"**SHAMEIMARUUUUUUUUUUUU!**"

Hatate's now-familiar call rings close to where the girls are, and Aya smiles as she says "seems we're going to have to go through a few obstacles."

The satori youkai quickens her pace until she's right beside her friend, and now the grounded girls make their way toward the bridges meant for fledglings, pups that have yet to learn to fly, or flightless wolves, as rare as that may sound.

Though it's been centuries since those bridges have seen use, they have been well kept by the tengu.

A sturdy set of golden ropes holds secure a trail of solid wooden boards, polished to the point of having a reflection on their surface, and to the sides of every three or so boards stand metal black rods that string together another set of golden ropes, so tight and firm that make for both handrails and safety beams.

Satori looks impressed as she gazes all round at the many houses built inside the rocks all over the mountain, all with large round windows for easy access in and out of the house, and on the bottom and on top of the several plateaus she sees more commonly built houses with their wooden doors in front an square windows around.

The girl marvels as the sight of the village and wishes to go sight-seeing, but before she can even joke about that, her tengu partner chokes.

Aya gulps and takes her camera on hand, then says "get ready. The crows are coming back. And once we reach the end of the bride, please be ready for an inevitable ambush."

Just as the girl said, a group of ten crows, led by Shameimaru's overgrown familiar, caw, screech and hiss as they make their way to the girls, and already they spit blood balls at them.

The mind-reader grunts and starts flashing mercilessly, clearing a few of those blood balls and knocking two faraway zombie crows, then pokes her tengu friend with her shoulder and says "run! I'll take care of them for you!"

But the reporter ignores the command and shoots a tornado at her old familiar, forcing it away from the bridge and preventing it from cutting the ropes with its wings, then shouts "like hell I'm going to abandon you! Come on, let's take them down! And don't let the big one near this bridge!"

The mind-reader can't help but smile happily after the crow-girl's declaration, and with that confident smile on her face she raises her armored third eye and shoots three fast beams that blast one zombie on impact, and chase after two fleeing zombie crows, catching them quickly.

"Nice one!" exclaims the living tengu girl, then aims her camera's lens around, locking on four crows, then shoots the homing beams just as they are three feet from drilling her face with their beaks.

Finally, only the leader remains, and this time it doesn't look like it's going to back away.

It turns around to face the girls directly and lets out a dark caw, threatening his targets in front, then flaps its wings to build up a gust of wind around itself and lunges straight at them.

Aya clicks her tongue and says "little bastard made a wind barrier," to which Satori taps her friend on the shoulder and bravely says "I blast it and you kill it."

There is no other choice and Shameimaru knows this, or her friend would have never even thought of suggesting that attack, so she nods, gulps her heart back down to her chest, then takes aim with her camera.

The satori maiden takes the front and starts shooting thin heart bullets as relentlessly as she can, and even with that bird shooting sound waves with its caws, the girl continues.

The sound waves hit her on the chest as though they were stones, and yet she remains steady, shooting those bullets and weakening the large zombie crow's barrier.

"NOW!" she shouts the second that barrier blows out, and though a little reluctant, the reporter swings her fan and sends several wind blades straight at the bird that cut its wings clean off.

Those wings keep zipping around on their own until one stabs itself on solid rock, and the other falls to the houses below, making a solid slashing sound when it lands.

The large crow falls on its back and growls as it struggles to get on its feet, and as soon as it gets up it hisses at the girls and bends down to jump at them.

A flash stops it from moving anymore and Aya shivers as she tries to keep her camera steady on her hands.

Satori gently takes the camera away and softly says "I'm sorry. I still can't shoot and flash fast enough. If I could, I would have done it."

The girl smiles as a few tears gather under her eyes, then slowly drops on her knees in front of her bleeding old friend and says "he was my best familiar. No news could ever escape our watchful eyes."

The purple-haired girl wants nothing more than to comfort her friend, but she cannot think of any proper words, and instead decides to show her support by placing her hand on the crow girl's shoulder.

She grabs her friend's hand with her own and flaps her small wings, and with a cracking voice she says "look at this place. So quiet and empty. Nobody's going in, or out of the houses, nobody's telling me off for doing what I want. The wolves aren't barking or howling down below, Hatate isn't here, trying to spy on me and get the news before me."

The black-haired reporter chuckles after that last statement and adds "but she does want to kill me now, doesn't she?"

Those accumulated tears start flowing down the living tengu's cheeks, and yet she continues to smile as she gently rubs the side of her old familiar's beak.

Satori drops on her knees and embraces her friend and softly says "let it out. Let it all out Shameimaru."

The reporter starts to sob and says "but I hated this place. Why am I crying? Why does it hurt?"

The mind-reader can't help but cry along and comb her friend's hair, and though sobbing she manages to say "I know, I know. I understand. Shh, shh, it's ok. I'm here with you."

Aya's words quickly become babbles and blubbering when her emotions finally flow out of her heart, and the two girls remain kneeling on the bridge, holding each other tightly and crying together, next to the unmoving body of the zombie crow.

Thoughts of Reimu, Yamame and Kogasa run through the girl's mind and a weight seems to add itself onto her back, though it's short-lived, for as the tears and sobs keep flowing, the weight keeps lifting.

* * *

><p>The girls have made their way through the bridge, and are soon to reach the end.<p>

Though the reporter continues to clear her throat to hide her sniffling, and constantly cleans off tears from her eyes with her forearms, the mind-reader can feel she's feeling better and lighter.

Sensing this, the satori maiden is no longer afraid of asking "so, what did you mean when you said _inevitable ambush_ before the crows attacked?"

The black-winged girl stops just before setting her foot off the bridge and signals her friend to stop as well, then wipes another tear from her eye and says "the area up ahead is used to ambush intruders who wander in too deep inside the village. It's narrow and provides excellent cover. Keep your eyes very open for any sign of movement."

The mind-reader bows her head, and then calmly says "I see. They were quite ruthless before."

Aya suddenly turns and grabs her friend by the shoulders, then sternly and desperately says "don't let them separate us! Keep close to me at all times! Do! Not! Let them! Separate us!"

Satori looks into her friend's eyes and doesn't need to read her mind to see an inexplicable fear in them, so she silently nods and softly says "I'll stay close."

"**Satori-chan, I'm serious!**" shouts the black-haired girl as tears flow anew and she cries "I'll never forgive myself**, or these bastards**, if something happens to you! Never!"

The mind-reading youkai can now see it. A great fear coursing through the winged reporter's head of Satori herself being maimed by spears and swords from the other tengu's hands while battling them in a narrow path surrounded by rocks, and the chaos her reporter friend will unleash if something like that comes to happen.

Again, the satori maiden nods and more solidly says "I won't get separated from you. They won't get me."

No words or expressions of relief are made by the black-winged girl, but she releases her friend and takes that final step off the bridge.

It doesn't take long for the girls to reach the narrow path surrounded by large rocks that the mind-reader saw in her friend's mind, and that's where they stop moving.

"What is it?" whispers Satori.

Aya narrows her left eye as she glares around, takes her camera on her right hand and her fan on the left, then swings it to the front on her right and reveals two zombies hiding between some rocks in front.

The face on the tengu suggests she's regretting revealing those zombies, but regardless, she pulls Satori close to her and frightfully whispers "here they come. S-stay close."

The zombies in front of them are a pair of crow tengu, and their mutation has twisted their heritage.

Half of their face is that of their animal nature, while the other half retains the human form.

There crows have the womanly half of their faces seemingly intact, but the bird-like halves are too large to match and keep bleeding without stop, and the eyes are too large to remain in their socket, and dangle beside their beaks.

Both faces cannot sustain each other and constantly separate to show the brain of the host, splitting into several pieces that remain held by worm-like stems that grow from their spine, and then reassemble so that the heads close again.

These crow tengu with spears snarl and caw at the same time as they threaten the invaders, and show several spear wounds of their own on their half-human, half-birdlike bodies, bloody bite wounds on their shoulders and stomachs, and their wings, though oversized, are useless because of the blood and acid flowing all over their feathers.

"More on the back," whispers the satori maiden when a pair of zombie wolf tengu holding large scimitars, shields, and snarling and growling at the same time at the girls, walk out of the covers from the rocks.

Their heads, like the crows, are also split into human and animal from and separate often.

One has her human head intact, while the other has had her eyeball pushed in, and her human skin is completely covered in bloodied sword and spear wounds.

Both wolves have large bloodied claws on their animal sides, their human feet look thin, their tails have become longer, and their tail tips look like they have a bladed bone-tip sharp enough to pierce through armor.

The girls glance around as one more wolf and crow tengu reveal themselves clinging on the rocks to either side of the narrow road, snarling at their prey as they slowly move about.

The still-living tengu and satori maiden glower at their attackers and raise their upgraded weapons to prepare themselves for a battle the black-haired reporter believes might be their last battle together.

* * *

><p>Satori shoots the first flash and sends a zombie wolf tengu jumping toward the rocks, but before Aya can shoot hers, the zombie crow tengu takes her fan and shoots a black tornado.<p>

"Shit," curses the reporter, and she takes her friend by the back of her shirt and jumps as high as she can with the help of her small wings, and as they descends she shouts "shoot them now!"

The mind-reader charges her beams and shoots eight of them, which travel fast toward the wolves and one of the crows.

The zombie wolves use their shields to block the beams, but the three zombie crows aren't as lucky and get blasted straight in the eyes.

They scream and roar as their heads break apart and those worm-like stems holding their brain parts start wriggling around furiously, and all three drop and kick their weapons and fans away from themselves out of the apparent despair they are feeling.

The satori maiden smiles as she looks up to her friend, and after getting a return smile she says "we'll need to take those shield off those wolves' han-AIIEE!"

From behind, that zombie wolf tengu she had scared away before has tackled her right off Shameimaru's hands and sent her straight at its two waiting companions.

Before Aya can realize what exactly happened, she gasps as she watches as that wolf lands in front of her friend and all three raise their scimitars.

"**SATORIIIIIIII,**" screams the desperate tengu girl when those blades lunge down on her screaming friend; that ring of metal cutting though fabric and soil repeating itself in her ears, and just as she lands she dashes toward the wolves.

A purplish blur strikes her from the side, grabs the back of her shirt and rips a chunk off of it in a failed attempt to hold the reporter, and when the black-haired girl lands on the ground, the one that tackled her growls "biiiitch!"

The living tengu doesn't care that Hatate is right next to her. All she wants is to reach those wolves and save Satori, or whatever may remain of her, then even the zombie Hatate has to stop and look over to that very spot her rival keeps staring at.

The zombie wolf tengu are blown away, sent howling to the air, their shields and swords flying elsewhere while those decaying bodies start their descent, and the satori maiden glowers around, dusting her skirt and admiring the new slit on the right, then threateningly says "you mangy mongrels can't hold a candle next to **my** dogs!"

"Satori!" excitedly calls Aya as she stands up, but reuniting will have to wait when she dodges a spear-claw from Hatate and turns her attention to her undead rival.

Her left eye, once again, is dangling next to her lips, while her dry right eye has been encased in clear ice, so the still-living tengu girl is guessing this bitch can still use ice attacks.

Aya raises her camera and flashes Hatate in the eyes, just like Nitori said, and the zombie shrieks and shakes her head, but quickly raises her arm, breaking off a dried string of muscles from her forearm, and swings with great force.

The black-haired reporter hops back and realizes she has two of the zombie crow tengu moving slowly toward her, and that their heads can no longer close entirely, giving them a more menacing look, but they no longer have their weapons and seem to be moving on instinct alone.

Grinning, Shameimaru takes her own fan on hand and shouts "Tornado! Indication to the Divine!" and sends those two zombies flying to the sky and get cut to pieces by the strong gales, then swiftly lunges at Hatate with a knee to the gut, and flashes her directly on the face before the spat blood can even drip near the zombie's chin.

Meanwhile, Satori glowers furiously at the zombie wolves as they approach her like wild beasts, snarling and hissing at the same time from both faces.

She notices the third crow is stumbling her way, and she grins.

Thinking its prey is distracted, one of the wolves rushes toward the purple-haired girl and readies its beastly claw as it locks its human-like red eye on the satori's chest.

Komeiji flashes the monster just as it is three inches away, then drops on her back to let it continue its lunge and claw the wobbly crow instead, then flashes upward to scare off the other two wolves, quickly gets on her knees, then shoots three beams at the clawed crow and the wolf, ending their lives before they can recover.

She quickly raises a spell card, closes her eyes to think "_thank you again, Koishi"_, and shouts "Recollection: DNA's Flaw!", and aims her sight between the two remaining wolves with their heads split and their brains flinging around.

Two pillars, one of green, and the other of pink hearts, rise from the ground between the monsters and start twisting around each other, and as they do the hearts break into pieces of bullets that immediately overwhelm the zombies.

The monsters howl as the bright bullets burn their undead skins, yet continue their march toward the girl, unaware that she is waiting for their bodies to mangle themselves through the bullets and finish them off.

Satori looks around; she can hear them snarling, howling and hissing, but she cannot see them through the bullets yet and starts getting anxious.

Finally a burned claw and a crispy human-like hand make it through the danmaku, followed promptly by the pair of rotting bodies, mangled by the bullets and dripping several kinds of fluids from the many new holes on their torso and faces, yet she shoots her flash without mercy.

The human faces screams, the wolf faces yelp, then the satori shoots a pair of beams that enter through the monsters' dual-mouths and expand once inside their stomachs, making them die after their abdomens burst with light.

Looking down at the bleeding bodies, the girl scowls and says "that's for breaking my skirt," then drops on her knees when her rapid-beating heart takes the rest of her breath away, and now she feels the pent-up anxiety take her whole body and weaken her.

"D-d-damned bastards. Th-those swords came to close," stutters the girl while she breathes erratically to recover herself and relax enough to stand up again, and then she hears her friend declaring her spell.

She raises her head and immediately relaxes when she sees the tengu girl is alright and doing well on her own, and feeling strong enough again she stands up and rushes toward her friend.

Aya pushes Hatate away with her fan and turns around the very moment her spell cancels.

The two zombie crow tengu fall hard on their backs, spilling acid and blood from their ruined wings, but before they can stand up the black-haired reporter stands above them, raises her camera, and her flash mixes with Satori's who stands behind her, unharmed and ready for more.

They smile at each other, relief lifting a great weight off both of their shoulders, and without having to speak, they both turn around and aim their flashing weapons at Hatate, but she's not there.

Instead, she is far from their reach, high above the rocks and snarling at the girls, and then screams her usual "**BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**" before jumping off behind said rocks.

The girls stare at the rocks for a while, and then look at each other with shock, and still unable to believe their luck the small-winged girl asks "did she just run away?"

* * *

><p>The girls have reached a small valley with a comfortably wide road, and judging by all the houses Satori guesses this would be the urban area of the village.<p>

As they walk Aya continues to hold her friend's hand and refuses to let her go, and feeling a bit irked by this the mind-reader believes it is time for a talk.

She pulls on the tengu's hand to get her attention and begins "Aya, I need to-", but the black-haired girl screams "**look out!"** then pulls her friend behind herself and shoots a zombie crow tengu that jumped right out of a window three times with her flash.

The monster falls on its stomach, growling as it writhes on the ground and tries to get up, so the satori youkai steps forth, shoots her overpowered flash and finishes the job.

She turns around to scowl at her friend, whom is already offering her hand while shaking in place, and says "please stop this Shameimaru-san!"

"P-please, Satori-chan. Y-you have to stay close to me," argues the nervous reporter.

"No," replies the mind-reader, "you and underestimating me, treating me like a human child, and I am not comfortable being a burden to you!"

They stare at each other, the living tengu thinking of some way to convince her friend to do as she says, but before she has the chance, Komeiji bluntly points out "look, I've already proven I can take care of myself! I took on and beat four of those zombies while you dealt with Hatate and the two crow tengu!"

"Bu-ut I jus-just want you to be safe," shakingly cries the reporter.

Satori sighs, though smiles as she reaches for Aya and wraps her arm around her neck, then pulls her along while rubbing her cheek against the crow tengu's head and softly says "I'm a youkai too, and I understand you want to protect me, but do consider my feelings as well. I want to protect you too."

With those words, another weight seems to lift off the winged girl's shoulders, and now flaps her wings involuntarily as she smiles and cries "I'm sorry. I was-*sniffle* I was just so scared. So many things have happened, and you are the only one that's stayed with me from the start."

The satori maiden kisses the girl's head and says "and I promise, I'll stay with you until the end."

Tears of joy escape the girl as she straightens up, and when she opens her eyes she stops and gazes upon a lonely white house with a yellow roof securely placed against the mountainous rocks nearing the end of the urban valley.

The estranged mind-reader quickly reads her friend's heart and asks "your house?"

Aya nods as though doing so mechanically, then softly whispers "c-can we go in?"

"I'll come with you," quickly replies Satori, then, after letting go of the tengu, she follows after her into the house.

The door opens quietly, allowing the light to touch the dinner table besides the living room, which is littered with newspaper articles and old photos, and goes all the way onto the stove at the kitchen, where an empty metal pot stands in wait of use.

Gazing upon her house, the dumbstruck tengu whispers "it's just as I left it."

They walk inside; the purple-haired girl closing the door behind herself; then the reporter girl fakes a smile as she says "let's go to my room. Maybe there's a skirt and shirt that might fit you."

Whit those words, the mind-reading youkai takes a good look at her clothes and those of her friend, and believes it would be prudent to get a change of clothes after all, though secretly wishes it was her own.

While Aya continues walking further into her house, Satori stays behind to admire the stairs leading to a single balcony with a single large round open window on the wall.

A clack on the floor gets the girl's attention, and then from the room to the left of the corridor the winged girl shouts "what the hell happened here?"

The satori youkai speeds toward the room, asking "what's the matter?" but her question is quickly answered when she looks inside.

The rolled-up futon has been cut in half and it's stained with blood, the drawers and its lamp lie smashed on the floor, and the clothes within have been torn to small shreds all over the room.

The walls and some parts of the floor have been cut by something big and sharp, and when they look to the ceiling they gasp at the three spears stabbed on the wooden beams.

"It's like there was a battle in here," comments Satori as she looks around and starts noticing the splotches of blood on the ceiling and corners of the wall.

She squints her eyes and whispers "wait a moment," focusing on the seemingly random blood splotches, then suddenly gasps and exclaims "lan? Aya, it says 'lan' up there!"

The tengu reporter enters the room along with her friend to take a better look, bends her neck to look up while positioning herself on the right of the room, and as though acting subconsciously she raises her camera and takes a photo of the letters L-A-N written in blood on the ceiling.

"What could this mean?" whispers the black-haired girl, and then a loud clack by the door gets both girls' attention.

Under the doorway stands the stiff figure of Momiji Inubashiri, who whispers "Shameimaru? Aya? Not here?" while staring inside with those widely opened red eyes, unblinking and unmoving, as though frozen in complete shock.

Her skin looks dark, her silver hair droops lifelessly on her head, her left ear has been bitten off and continues to bleed, staining her hair and her shoulder, and a large tear on her skirt shows a deep cut with dried blood on her left leg.

"Momiji? M-Momiji, is that really you?" asks the hopeful reporter, wondering if she'll get some sort of response, but nothing.

She remains standing there, whispering the same words over and over, and while still standing she raises her tail.

"Aya," whispers the mind-reader, "let's flash her now or get out of here!"

"Wait," desperately whispers the girl. "What if she's alive? She doesn't have any odd mutations or-"

The white wolf girl drops on her hands and stands like a wild beast with her razor-sharp tail raised and aimed at the satori youkai, then her face turns feral, her gums start bleeding, and she furiously roars "**AYA'S HOUSE! GET OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!**"

The girls cover their ears to block out the echoing howl from the zombie wolf, and then yelp as they jump away from each other to avoid Momiji's dash and tail whipping, which easily tears through bits of fabric from their shirts.

Shameimaru flashes the girl, causing her to yelp and whine in pain as she recovers, feeling a sting in her heart upon hearing her subordinate crying like a wounded animal, but regardless she steels herself to pick her friend by the arm and shouts "let's get out of here now!"

They exit the room, rush to the front door, and when the black-haired girl opens it up just slightly, she immediately shuts it again, and then three solid thumps are followed by a spear that breaks through the wood.

Aya pushes Satori toward the stairs and grunts "it's Lord Tenma and Lady Arile! RUN!"

"Why are you thinking about heart-panties?" asks the mind-reader, to which her friend desperately says "when they open that door we jump! Roll when you fall!"

They are already on the top balcony when the door in front breaks open, though right behind them is Momiji, grunting with each pant and spitting blood as she snarls at the intruders.

Several footsteps can be heard on the bottom floor, all headed straight to the stairs, so without hesitation the small-winged reporter and her mind-reading friend jump out the large round window.

They roll on the ground to lessen the impact and ends up sprawled when they stop, but the adrenalin rush helps them pick themselves up and start running just as those zombie tengu fly out the window in pursuit of them.

Aya's house is once again emptied, so zombie Momiji slowly walks down the stairs and closes the front door, and after she's done she looks around inside the house and howls so loud her voice echoes all the way to the top of the mountain and beyond.

* * *

><p>The girls run for their lives as a multitude of zombie wolves and crows tengu chase after them, kicking up a thick cloud of dust that hides their numbers.<p>

"There's the bridge!" shouts Shameimaru. "Head for the cave at the other side!"

Komeiji can see in her friend's mind how that bridge reaches a large building with round golden roofs on towers with pointy tips, and a large cave that rests to its right side.

She nods and shouts "be prepared to fight either way! I don't think they plan on letting us go!"

The reporter takes out her camera, and when only halfway across the bridge they watch as zombie crows spring from beneath on the left, growling with each caw to threaten their prey.

The girls turn and flash the birds, killing what looks like around twenty of them with that dual blast, but a good number of them still survive and look eager to attack.

They reach the end of the bridge, run fast past the large royal-looking building, and on the rocky plateau on the right they can see the cave.

Hatate crash-lands in front of the cave's entrance, quickly rises from her knees and clenches her fists against her chest while screaming "**BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**", then spreads her arms to her sides at the very moment she summons her back-tentacles.

Before the girls can attack, she lunges those tentacles and leaves a small cut on Aya's bare left shoulder when said girl raises one leg, stands on the other and raises one wing to avoid the other tentacles.

The live tengu screams with fright "help!", then the glowering mind-reader reveals a spell card on her right hand and declares "you bitch! Recollection: Master Spark!"

Hatate screams like a banshee when that ridiculously fast, wide, white beam flies right out of the youkai's third eye and burns her up until the ice on her right melts and she's no longer moving.

The hated enemy falls on her back several feet away from the cave's entrance, and although she's stiff and dead, her tentacles keep flailing around.

Satori rushes to Aya and inspects the fast-healing wound on her friend's shoulder while asking "are you alright?"

The crow girl nods and says "you picked up on that spell fast," but before she can point out their time-wasting, the girls are already surrounded by a multitude of zombie crow and wolf tengu, and undead crows flying above a single tengu with a red, long nosed mask on his face.

"T-Tenma," nervously whispers the reporter before pointing at the tengu leading the attack.

The masked tengu removes his mask and reveals himself to his prey, then hisses "master. pissed OFF! WE KILL!"

Just like Momiji, Tenma has no visible mutation, no rotting skin, his eyes look red, his long black beard looks full and glossy, as per normal, but unlike the white wolf he has a large hole on his stomach that stains his elegant black and white armored kimono with his own blood, and he has grown a skeletal wing on the left that looks like the sharp and bony remains of a dragon's wing.

He shapes an X in the air with his hands then points at the girls, but before the half-faced monsters can attack, from the plateau behind them a wolf howls loudly to the air, getting a response from Momiji back at Aya's house, then an entire pack of white zombie wolves jump down to attack the zombie tengu.

As they do, their leader roars as he barks, while telepathically shouting "_take one each, but do not touch the living flesh or I'll have **you** for dinner instead!_"

He looks at the girls, bows his head, and then says "_FIGHT! We are not afraid of death! Fight and live, so that we may see each other again, saviors!_"

The girls stare around themselves with surprise and watch as the white wolves snarl and roar, the crow tengu screech and kick, the wolf tengu snarl and claw, and how the wolf leader himself expands his body and summons his tentacles, then jumps off the mountain to take on a zombie crow tengu and Arile on his own.

The zombie tengu Shameimaru insulted once, wears a mask on the side of her head with a long nose with a purple tip, her golden hair is stained with blood, and her kimono, though elegant, is broken everywhere, exposing her bare rotting skin.

Now Aya and Satori have Tenma, the crows, some crow tengu and two wolf tengu to deal with.

Both girls have already prepared their beams of light, and just as the tengu leader roars the command, they shoot those beams without second thoughts.

Many zombie crows fall fast, leaving only three behind, while the resistant tengu continue their march forward, even after being hit by the beams.

"Satori! Stay close!" shouts the small-winged girl as she begins moving toward Tenma.

The mind-reader reads her friend's thoughts before complaining unnecessarily and sees the desired plan, then grins as she takes her friend's immediate side while raising her armored third eye.

A zombie crow and wolf tengu rush straight at the girls with their weapons aimed at their faces, but the girls sway toward each other to avoid the blades, then scowl while flashing the monsters straight on the faces, making them roar and screech as their heads split after they fall to the ground, then flash them again to finish the job, leaving two split-headed corpses pouring blood and who-knows-what other kind of fluid on the patch of brown grass.

Next come the three remaining zombie crows and a male crow tengu, and while the crows dive to split the girls apart, the tengu goes with his spear straight at the purple-haired girl to attempt a jump-lunge.

Satori screams when she sees the attack coming and manages to roll away in time, then the zombie tengu gets slammed by a bleeding white wolf that's just been kicked out of the battlefield and its body shatters on top of the zombie when they hit the ground.

Aya calls "Satori! Need help!" then ducks to avoid flying spears that come from the battle behind and watches as these thrust themselves on the heads of the crow and the wolf tengu in front and smiles.

She quickly rolls away from her spot and avoids the sharp beaks of the zombie crows, who fail a dive attack and remains trapped by their beaks on the ground.

The black-winged girl takes the chance and immediately flashes the birds before they can escape, and once they are dead she stands up and rushes to reunite with her friend.

The girls quickly reunite, and then Satori exclaims "this is insane! It's like a war here!"

"I know," exclaims the tengu reporter, "but if we finish Tenma, maybe the other tengu will leave us alone!"

In front of them, the two tengu pull the spears off their heads and are joined by two more crow tengu, blocking the way to zombie Tenma, and quickly rush to attack with the weapons on hand.

Aya quickly flashes them to stop their advance, flashes them a second time in the eyes to blind them, then, after charging up, Satori unleashes a powerful flash that burns the remaining skin on their bodies to dust, leaving a pile of bones with blood-stained clothes to fall on the ground with several clacks.

"We did it!" celebrates the mind-reader, but then she realizes her friend is glowering around and asks "what is it?"

* * *

><p>On the background, spears break through flesh, tengu scream, shriek and hiss, wolves howl in pain, roar and snarl, and Shameimaru growls with frustration.<p>

The purple-haired girl stares with concern at her friend and asks "what's the matter?"

"Tenma has this annoying cloaking ability, but he needs to generate enough wind," begins the girl, before she roars and says "rah! But with all this racket I can't hear it! I can't tell where he is!"

At that very moment a small-but-strong tornado appears under the girls' feet and springs them off the ground.

They land on their chins but quickly get up, and then Aya screams "dammit, he's going to make us fall off!"

Satori closes her eyes and focuses on her friend's mind, and all of a sudden the sound of the battle behind her becomes mute for the tengu.

The black-haired girl gasps with surprise, but before she can ask the satori maiden says "it's alright. I am muting the battle so you can focus on finding that man. Hurry!"

Shameimaru focuses her hearing and immediately picks up a faint whooshing slightly above her, then takes her fan and swings it with all her might, cutting Tenma's cloaking winds with a wind blade and forcing him on to the ground, where he immediately unsheathes a small Japanese sword from underneath his kimono and runs forth.

The girls split to allow the zombie to pass them through, but Tenma manages to swing at the purple-haired girl and cuts her back.

Satori yelps and falls on her stomach as she tries to hold her back and the zombie immediately rushes toward her, but Aya jumps on his back and pulls him away from her friend, then shouts "dammit! This bastard still acts as tough as ever! Satori, are you alright?"

"I'll be alright," grunts the youkai girl as she pushes herself up, then looks toward the zombie tengu and exclaims "he's coming back!"

Zombie Tenma is already back on his feet and running toward Aya, but the reporter is quick and shoots three flashes at the zombie's face before he gets too close.

The monster tengu drops his weapon to cover his eyes and the living tengu kicks him on the ribs to send him away, however the zombie tengu grabs her leg and lifts her up with ease, then throws her away without expending any effort.

Satori stands up, and before she realizes it she finds herself grappling hands with zombie Tenma, and is already loosing.

She whimpers as she tries to push back, but despite all her efforts she keeps being pushed over to the edge.

She watches with horror as the bodies of the dead zombie crows roll over the edge and fall, and in a desperate attempt to survive she starts shooting one flash after another in rapid succession, but the zombie tengu continues pushing back.

She grunts and clenches her eyes, chokes as she hesitates to call, but when she feels her talon nearing that cliff she calls "A... AYA-CHAN! HELP!"

Shameimaru's bullets explode on Tenma's back, taking his attention away from the mind-reader and back on to her.

The satori maiden takes the chance to run away from the edge of the mountain and stands on the side with her third eye ready to flash.

The zombie seems aware of being surrounded, but focuses mainly on the tengu in front of him, then points at her and says "even if we dead, you still tengu! You must obey and kill intruder!"

Aya's reply is a swing from her fan and a wind blade Tenma easily dispels with a swift swing from his own fan, and then he roars at the offending girl and starts spitting dried balls of blood mixed with a greenish goop, staining his beard as he does.

He rushes toward her but she shoots the accumulated beams she's been secretly preparing from her camera, and they all go straight into his eyes.

He screams and writhes around while holding his face, yet as soon as he stops screaming he reaches for Shameimaru.

Satori shoots several large orbs of energy at the zombie tengu, and then flashes him several times before shooting him again and knocking him to the ground.

The reporter takes the chance, swings her fan around herself with an elegant dance, gathering glowing energy around her wind, she raises her fan to raise the gathered energy above her head, then she cries as she whispers "go order some other psycho tengu around," and she throws the saw-like energy at his stomach.

He groans as the energy cuts through him with ease, then both living girls aim their flashing weapons and finish him off before the blade stops.

The girls yelp when they feel something thin warp itself around their waist, but before they get too scared that familiar voice telepathically says "_GO! Get out of here while you can!_"

As the large white wolf carries the girls over to the cave they gasp with horror at the sight of countless zombie tengu, some mutated, some still looking normal, flying from below the mountains and from the urban valley, all snarling, roaring and moaning as they move forward.

They can hear Momiji howling once more, and then the white wolf places the girls inside the cave and says "_now go! We'll hold them off here! Be on your guard though! Up ahead are black wolves and some tengu guards!_"

"B-bu-but what about you?" nervously asks Aya, asking herself in her mind if she's crazy for being concerned over a zombie's well-being.

The wolf seems to grin, then turns around to face the innumerable opponents, then says "_when you, er, fix this whole incident, please thank that white wolf that called us here. And don't worry; my vow will stand, even after I lose my new thinking mind. I swear on my pride. Now go. We will meet again!_"

Satori grabs her friend's arm, pulls her toward the cave, then says "no, you're not crazy. You just have that big a heart. Now come, we have to escape."

And so, the girls run into the cave, and though already far within, they can hear the battle going on outside.

For a moment they actually think of going back and helping, but they know they would be a hindrance in a battle of zombies versus zombies, and so decided to move on to the exit of the cave.

* * *

><p>After a long and uneventful trek in the cave, Aya and Satori exit through a hidden passage to the left of the waterfall at the top of the mountain at noon.<p>

Their breaths are immediately stolen when they gaze upon massive patches where trees once used to be, and are now replaced by moving vines and small lamenting spirits.

The road is surrounded by a sickly-yellow swamp that matches the smell of a thousand rotting youkai corpses, and the air gives off an eerie sensation that the mountain itself is aware of their presence.

The unnatural clouds seem to come down as well, and spend a time of leisure above the bubbling swamps, zapping anything that might come up, which happen to look like the screaming skeletons of humans doomed to drown in slimy muck forever.

"Ugh! What the hell is this?" asks the tengu girl, holding her mouth and nose with her hand to block the smell, though is unsuccessful.

The mind-reading girl lies on her stomach on a tall rock on the side, coughing as she spits the last of the contents of her stomach, then moans "auuu, we have to get out of here before it gets dark."

The tengu girl shrieks when she sees her friend sick like that, and then grabs the girl and jumps on to the next level of the rocks, where the clean waters of the rapids flow.

To their luck, the waters are not tainted, and there aren't any fish near, so the purple-haired girl takes the chance to clean her face and recover, then the winged girl suggest "why don't we follow these waters instead? I don't think we'll be able to survive those swamps anyway."

Satori nods, looks around at the many tentacles and rising vines surrounding the water, then says "it's still dangerous, but it's better than staying down there."

Aya nods, wraps her friend's arm around her neck, and helps her on to her feet and says "let's go. I think I know where this will take us."

Their silent walk near the rapid waters is surprisingly peaceful, and it appears the rising vines and tentacles will keep to themselves, which feels kind of odd.

Before the winged girl makes the comment, the satori youkai places her hand on her friend's lips and shakes her head, then the tengu thinks "_what? What's the matter? These things seem peaceful enough._"

A pair of black zombie wolves, drooling slimy blood, with the skin on their heads missing, showing their yellowish skulls, glowing red eyes, thin black torsos with black, bloodstained fur, and having long clawed fingers on their front legs, jump from the rocks from the direction of the swamp and snarl as they rush toward their meal.

In just one second the noisy wolves are trapped by the tentacles, which stretch them until their spines break, then one of the nearest stems smash the center of the bodies, spilling the tainted blood of the zombie beasts on their base as though for nourishment, then toss the bodies back toward the swamp, where they'll probably mend again.

After seeing that, the shocked tengu sweats and thinks "_silent it is. Let's get the heck outta here!_" and so she silently speeds away with her friend walking on her own beside her.

After continuing upstream, the girls are left dumbstruck at the sight before them.

Trees and bushes, green and moist, and without a single sign of any kind of mutation on any of them.

"What the heck?" asks Aya as she looks around, and when she looks at Satori and sees the same confused look, she asks "did... we die back there?"

The mind-reader shrugs and shakes her head, glances around, then looks at the road behind them and says "no, we're not dead. Look at this."

Right behind them, just one step away, the plants are all dead and the vile stems rise again, while in front of them stands a beautiful paradise that once was their real Gensokyo.

"Thi-this is incredible!" exclaims the reporter, taking photos of the odd division between hell and paradise, then adds "it's like some part of Gensokyo is immune to this crap, like us!"

"No," says a familiar voice from behind.

The girls turn around, gasp with surprise, and simultaneously exclaim "**Nitori! You're alright!**"

The zombie kappa walks on her hands and knees between a few small rocks, panting as though just having run a marathon, but regardless of her fatigue she explains "before she got infected, the hermit that lives around here cast some sort of spell and blocked the magical virus, though she was still too late. She was already infected, and transformed after a while. And so did her pets."

As if not listening to her, Satori concernedly asks "Nitori, what's wrong?"

"Yeah, what's the matter with you?" asks Aya and she and the mind-reader walk over to help.

"**STAND BACK YOU STUPID BITCHES!**" screams the greenish kappa, who covers her mouth and repeats "sorry! So sorry! I-it's just that..."

Her face becomes dark, her mouth opens on its own and she bares those jagged teeth again as she furiously says "**that fucking BITCH Marisa beat me hard and got away!** No-now my machine broke, a-and I'm starting to lose myself."

The girls want to say something and stop Nitori from going on, but the kappa continues "so I want to ask you a favor."

"No! Nitori, no! We've already-" argues the tengu.

"**Shut the GODDAMNED HELL UP and LISTEN!**" screams the green-skinned girl, cutting the reporter's sentence off.

She places her hand on her left ear as she grimaces in pain, then says "you two MUST get to the Shrine of the Moriya. There you should try and talk to the gods, if they aren't zombies. They probably know how you can get to the mansion without b-... **BREAKING YOUR GODDAMNED RETARDED HEADS WHEN YOU FALL!**"

The robed girl clenches her left ear and whimpers as she slowly recovers herself, and then says "now please, do me a favor and flash me in the eyes. Once should do."

"Please, there must be another way," pleas Satori as she looks with pity at the girl.

Nitori shakes her head, smiles, and then says "I swear, when you guys fix all of this I'm going to install an air conditioner in your houses for being such good friends. Now please, I don't want to be one of _them_. Finish me."

The girls hesitate, unable to decide whether to fulfill the girl's request, or just try and save her, but as soon as her smile turns to a vile frown and her eyes start to glow red, the mind-reader shoots the flash and the helpful kappa instantly falls into the darkness of her temporary death.

Aya gulps to suppress her desires to start sobbing, while Satori is unable to hold herself back as easily.

They walk out of the small paradise to inspect the greenish girl, and then the sobbing mind-reader points her hand toward Nitori's left ear and says "th-that's where that machine she talked about is. In there."

"That Marisa," angrily begins the tengu, who kneels to the left of the body and starts pulling said device out and continues "next chance I get, I'm going to give her what she deserves!"

She pulls out a long, thin silver rod with blood on the tip, stares at it for a while, then comments "wow, *sniffle* this thing went through to her brain... maybe."

The satori maiden bends closer to inspect the tiny rod, squints her eyes a she takes an even closer look, then gulps her sobbing away and whispers "wait a minute. This isn't broken. It just seems loose."

Aya watches with surprise as her friend takes the machine, twists it until it makes a very light click, then opens her eyes wide with amazement when Komeiji says "there. It should work fine now."

The tengu girl steps aside while her friend places the little rod back inside the zombie's head, and then asks "wait, how did you know?"

The mind-reader turns a gleeful smile to her friend, then casually says "it was in her mind just before she... Well, it was there, and I noticed something different on the device from that memory, and so I adjusted it so that it looked the same again."

Shameimaru raises an eyebrow and comments "but I didn't notice any difference from then to now."

She earns a friendly rub on the head while her partner says "come, we better start moving. We'll need to reach this Moriya Shrine before it gets dark."

And with a nod of assent, the black-haired reporter stands up, and she and her mind-reading friend go back inside the small paradise, leaving Nitori's body where it was, away from the tentacles and hidden from sight.

* * *

><p>It's getting dark, and the girls find themselves lost in the small paradise as they speed through dirt roads in search of the Moriya Shrine.<p>

"I thought. you knew. this place. Aya-chan," complains Satori between pants.

The girls stop their run to take a breather, then the winged girl looks up at the darkening sky and says "I'm sorry, I used to fly there all the time so I can't recognize the way from down here. I don't even know where we are right now."

As it gets darker the rumblings of the Youkai Mountain get more and more violent, and now an odd dark chanting takes the entire atmosphere, and soon after the girls huddle up after plants around them start moving and rustling violently.

"W-w-we need to find somewhere to hide," nervously says the reporter, wrapping her wings around herself as though looking for cover.

"Too late," exclaims the purple-haired girl as she points behind at a small group of animal zombies that have cut their escape route.

Tiny birds with holes on their chests, a massive two-headed serpent with its left head missing the left eye and the right head sporting a large dragon-like crest on its head, and a small hairless wolf with bleeding bite wounds all over the neck, a hole on its back that spews black goop like several miniature geysers, and its fur has been replaced by spikes that are covered with intestines and eyeballs from other victims.

The monsters hiss at the girls, then screech when they get a face-full of light, and though the birds die immediately, the snake and small wolf recover and chase after the fleeing girls.

They run fast down the road, unknowingly heading straight toward a large mansion hidden in the trees, however their progress is slowed when the mountains rumble, a dark chanting resumes louder, and a powerful gust of wind pushes them back.

"DON'T STOP!" shouts Aya over the sound of the wind. "KEEP GOING!"

Their run is now a crawling walk when those winds become as strong as those of a typhoon, but being an experience tengu, Shameimaru takes her fan, waves it elegantly in the air, and now she and the mind-reader are moving fast once again.

"GOOD ONE!" shouts Satori. "Now let's keep mo-"

As if knowing of their uselessness, the countering winds stop blowing against the girls, but before they can celebrate, a pair of black wolves, one with a dangling eye that looks like a black rock, and the other with blades for paws, and a mutated white wolf tengu jump from behind some bushes and rush toward the girls.

The tengu and satori flash the attackers and stop the black wolves, but the zombie wolf tengu continues her march, even though seemingly blind, and with a mad bark from the wolf-side face she unsheathes and swings a thin Japanese sword and just barely misses the girls' necks.

"Holy CRAP!" screams the reporter as she straightens back up and shoots bullet rings at the wolf tengu, then says "that was WAY too close!"

The zombie tengu jumps backward twice before flipping like an acrobat away from the bullets, but as she retreats, the black zombie wolves move in for the attack.

They snarl and bare their poisonous jagged yellow teeth when they open their mouths wider than their own heads, but all they get is several heart bullets that explode in their throats.

Though they close their mouths they move about like blurs, unfazed by the new bleeding holes on their throats, but seem to change their strategy to claw the girls instead.

Aya shoots a flash at the stone-eyed wolf flying toward her friend, killing it with the shot and exclaiming "you keep away from her, stoned fleabag!"

Satori shoots a string of heart bullets at the reporter, but the hearts suddenly spread around the black-haired girl and regroup behind her, blasting the zombie tengu's sword and shield away and damaging its faces with the blast recoil.

She looks nervously at her friend and says "s-sorry, I had to work fast."

"DUCK!" shouts the black-haired girl, and her mind-reading friend crouches down as the girl thrusts her fan forward and strikes the second black wolf on the snout and flashes it, saving her friend from a claw on the back of the head.

The tengu smiles as she helps her partner up, and then says "just one more to go."

Satori looks past her friend, grins, then mouths the words "_b-e-h-i-n-d y-o-u._"

Aya glances as far back to her left as she can, narrows her eyes, then swiftly turns around and she and her partner dual-flash the brain-flailing zombie tengu to its immediate death.

Just as they are about to celebrate, the short-winged girl grabs her friend and pulls her away, allowing the small spike-bodied wolf to fly past them and stick itself on to a tree.

"Oh dear, we forgot about these guys," comments the satori maiden as she stands up.

Shameimaru quickly stands and flashes the spiked wolf's underbelly, taking advantage of its predicament and finishing it off, then turns sideways to face the large two-headed snake that threatens her partner with furious hisses.

She quickly summons a powerful updraft with her fan to stop the blinding-fast lunge from the snake, saving the mind-reader, flashing the creature several times and forcing it to back away.

It makes a sudden turn and whips its tail on the ground, lifting pebbles and stones from the ground and flicking them at the girls.

Komeiji shoots several hearts to do away with the larger rocks, but the pebbles and small rocks make it through, cutting her and her friend's foreheads and shoulders with their sharp edges, yet neither even flinch.

"Shoot both heads," exclaims Aya as the snake turns around again, but both are surprised when the snakes open their mouths and roar as they crawl right out of their skins.

Their bones crawls out of their mouths all the way down to their necks, the vertebra grows sharp spikes, and their fangs grow twice their size before the bones turn purple and start dripping poison from all the tips.

The skeletal snake raises itself to look more intimidating, but a quick flash from Satori forces it back down, then Aya shouts "don't get too close! That stuff looks very dangerous!" and shoots a homing beam as one of the vertebra.

The monster lunges blindingly fast again, and the girls find themselves flying backward after the recoil of the monster smashing the ground hits them hard.

Once flat on their backs, the tengu girl yelps with pain and holds her right leg, where the mind-reading youkai can see a purplish cut on the knee.

She rushes over to her winged friend and subconsciously flashes the poison away, then quickly stands up to glare at the towering bony monster and starts summoning power, whispering "fifteen percent should teach you to behave."

The snake lunges straight at Satori, but the girl unleashes the flash, lighting up a ridiculously large area and killing not only the snake, but other zombie birds and mice that were hiding behind trees and bushes as they waited to ambush the girls.

The girl turns around to her friend as she stands up, then says "I just saw a large building up ahead. Let's go there and stay there until morning."

Aya nods, and they both rush off toward the Japanese mansion in the nearby distance.

* * *

><p>In just a few minutes the girls reach the gates of a large three-story Japanese-style mansion, but to their dismay, on the base of the mansion stands zombie Kasen Ibara and many of her little pets.<p>

The skin on the left side of Kasen's face has been ripped off and left to dangle by her neck leaving her bones exposed, her eyes look like sick purple orbs, her hair looks grey and dirty, her outfit is missing the front plate and her white shirt, leaving her sarashi and her greenish skin exposed, a hole on her hips where the tips of her ribs and coaxial bones can be seen, and her right hand is a wispy purple ghostly image surrounded by a floating swirling bandage.

Among her pets is a giant eyeless eagle with its beak spread open exposing a pair of slimy brownish-pink gums with tiny jagged teeth, and the lower half of its body has been ripped off, leaving it as a downed bird needing to use its wings to look up.

Aya and Satori look around at the small animals, the large bird, and their zombie master, then the tengu girl thinks "_should we escape?_"

The mind-reading youkai shakes her head and softly says "it's almost nightfall. If we run away from here the mountain will claim our lives."

"So, you killed my baby dragon," begins Kasen, speaking normally, though sounding a bit dark with every pronunciation.

"Wait, that snake was a dragon?" asks the black-haired reporter.

The zombie hermit points at the girls with her left hand and says "you will pay very dearly for that."

She covers her face with her hand and looks away while a pair of flashes strike several times, and listens as all her little pets; the birds, the little snakes, the wolves, pups and cats, all shriek and die; and as soon as the attacks stop she swings her hand violently and screams "**you disgusting bitches! How dare you kill my pets! I'LL KILL YOU!**"

Aya snorts with disgust and says "figures. The giant bird and the damned zombie girl are still alive."

Satori stares flatly at her friend and says "show a little more compassion to the animals. You are one."

Kasen growls and stomps her right foot furiously, then points her spectral right hand and commands "**KILL!**", then the giant eagle flaps its wings once and takes flight, aiming it's slimy mouth at the black-haired reporter's neck.

Both girls split, and the crow girl shouts "I'll be with you shortly!" then chases after the eagle.

The mind-reader shouts back "be careful! And make sure it's not faking death!" then turns to face the zombie girl, who stands in a fighting position five feet away.

The right side of Kasen's lips show a vile smile as she glares at her opponent, then says "I know damn-well how weak you are. You have no hope against me without your friend to back you up, even with that flashing eye."

Satori stares coldly, and then softly says "for a zombie, your brain function sure is in top condition, for the most part."

The zombie girl frowns and says "I'm a hermit. Not a zombie," then lunges forth with a flying kick.

The purple-haired girl grunts when she drops to the ground to avoid losing her head to that kick, then quickly gets up and flashes the back of zombie Kasen, however it appears the damage is very minimal.

Meanwhile, Aya uses her small wings to leap high in the air, barely reaching the top of the trees, as she attempts to lock-on on the giant bird's eye sockets and dodge its surprisingly fast and relentless dives at the same time.

She growls when she misses the beams and flash again, then stretches her wings to start gliding, in hopes the giant eagle will attack her directly on the front.

The bird takes the bait and roars as it opens the slimy gums to take a bite while flying straight at the tengu.

The small-winged girl flashes the beast, making it screech in pain, then smacks its head with her geta sandal's platform to send it crashing to the ground, then lets herself drop to chase after it.

At the other side, Satori yelps and whimpers while narrowly dodging zombie Kasen's fast attacks and flashing the girl without causing much apparent damage.

She looks at her attacker's right hand before rolling left to dodge a roundhouse kick, and thinks "_why isn't she using that hand? I'm not liking this. I have to finish this quick._"

She looks at her armored third eye and notices the yellow glowing led light, then sighs to suppress the terror she's feeling in her heart and starts using more power with each flash.

At that moment, on the other side of the road, Shameimaru pants as she runs away from the giant bird after it started using its own guts as feet to run after her, allowing it to focus on shooting acidic spit-balls with deadly accuracy.

The tengu girl jumps behind a tree a second before being touched by one of the acid balls, takes a few seconds to calm her heart, then raises her camera and jumps out of hiding.

She yelps out loud when the monster takes a surprise bite from her left wrist, but even with the pain she manages to flash it right inside the eye-socket, then kicks it off of her and scrunches up when that slimy fluid starts burning her skin.

Aya growls; angry at herself for not being more careful, and pissed at the bird for being so damned annoying.

She ignores the sizzling sting and runs after it, and just as it flips on to its makeshift feet, it finds itself at the wrong end of the many bullets of one angry crow tengu.

"You disgusting piece of shit! Die so I can go back to Satori!" screams the girl as she burns new holes on the giant zombie bird's body, and after she's satisfied she showers the beast with several flashes, hitting it even after it stops moving, then stops the relentless attack.

She stares angrily at the monster, kicks it to make sure it's dead, then runs straight to her friend's side, shaking off the blood from her wrist while it begins to heal.

Meanwhile, the mind-reading youkai pants hard while she flashes and dodges more of zombie Kasen's quick attacks, but while that zombie girl keeps attacking without showing signs of fatigue, the satori is feeling exhausted.

The hermit chuckles while sending kicks and punches at her opponent and says "that's the problem with pissy danmaku. It's just plain useless crap when one is attacked from short range."

She smiles when Satori yelps after being brushed on the cheek by a punch, but quickly frowns when the next flash from that third eye seems to make her twitch.

The zombie grabs the satori's neck, then pushes her against a tree, lifts her wispy right hand, then the floating bandages around it stretch and coil themselves around her victim's head, her arms, her third eye, then her legs, forcing them to spread and trapping her against the tree.

Kasen chuckles playfully as she holds the living girl's exhausted and terrified face, then says "u-hu-hu~. That last shot made me feel all tingly. Congratulations, you bitch. For that, I'm going to make you hurt over and over before I start devouring your flesh. And just so you don't get any funny ideas..."

That purple wispy hand of the girl rises on its own, then lunges straight into the purple-haired girl's neck and immediately paralyzes her body and cuts her breath.

Komeiji can feel how just enough oxygen to keep her alive travels into her lungs, but even so the feeling hurts her, and the unnatural paralysis also serves to send jolts of pain straight into her very bones, yet she cannot scream.

What's worst, now she sees what zombie Kasen is aiming to do, especially when her left shoe is broken by five sharp nails, and how the zombie hermit seems to be winding back.

"Oh, don't worry," mockingly begins the hermit, then she chuckles and says "the first kick to the nether regions never hurts as much as the third, the fourth, or the fifth."

She winds her leg as she runs forth, she throws the kick will every ounce of strength in her, and the satisfying thud should have made her smile, however she finds herself frowning.

Aya managed to jump in at the very last second and saved Satori from a very cruel punishment, however the tengu now has three new bleeding holes on her stomach, yet with the pain she feels as she grunts she still manages to shoot a few flashes at the hermit's eyes.

The black-haired reporter quickly stands up, and while Kasen groans and screams as she holds her face, the living girl kicks that left hand away and flashes the monster several more time.

The zombie hermit rolls on her back and quickly starts to crawl away from her attacker, but Shameimaru is not willing to let her go, and to her own undead dismay, her own bandages tug her back when she runs out of space.

She tries to summon her bandages back as desperately fast as possible, but even after the mind-reader falls it is too late, and the tengu reporter is still on top of her.

She tries to sweep-kick the winged girl but the crow girl jumps and flashes the zombie.

Zombie Kasen finally submits when her body starts convulsing involuntarily and she starts vomiting a thick purple substance, and looking up at the black-haired girl she grins and says "w-well played."

One final flash finishes the monster, and zombie Kasen Ibara falls on top of her own purple vomit to her temporary death.

Without saying a word, Aya turns around, kneels beside her friend and massages her throat and chest, helping her to relax and breath, then whispers "it's alright. She was one of those tough ones. It's not your fault."

The mind-reader moans when she tries to cry, but quickly relaxes when her friend smiles at her and gives her a light embrace before helping her on to her feet.

* * *

><p>That night, inside the mansion, Aya kneels besides the fully recovered Satori against a wall on the empty floor of one of the many rooms in the mansion.<p>

They smile when they find a futon inside each of those inventory cubes Nitori gave them, and while they unroll them the mind-reader says "it's nice to have met someone as thoughtful as Miss Nitori."

The black-haired girl moves her wings, then looks at the ward at the entrance of the room and sadly says "yeah. She's pretty cool."

Before she knows what happened, Aya finds herself in a warm embrace from her friend, who says "it was so hard for you, seeing your home the way it is. But you are so strong Aya-chan. If it had been me I think I would have broken from the start."

The black-haired girl's eyes water as she thinks back on all she has seen since they started the climb up the mountain, and then she lets a loud sob escape.

Satori tightens her embrace, placing her friend's head on her shoulder and softly says "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, but I don't want you to hold that inside either. Let it out, like on the bridge."

Momiji, Tenma, Hatate, those tengu she knew, and her house, the village, the green mountain she used to love so much, added to the memories of Reimu's death, Yamame's sacrifice, and Kogasa's bravery, all those images seem to suddenly pile up on her, and all she can do is cry to let it all out her system.

Even with the pain she feels, she is grateful to Satori, for being there for her, but cannot express her words and feels guilty, so the mind-reader combs her head and softly says "it's alright, you don't have to say it. You're welcome."

And so, the girls remain in that room for the night, where the poor tengu girl who though she hated her home, finds herself crying over the loss of that very place, and those people she used to take for granted when they were there.

Meanwhile, the south-eastern side of the frozen Misty Lake looks like a giant Swiss cheese under a laser show.

Yuka lands between two of the holes, panting heavily while holding her semi-exposed chest, slaps the bits of ice clinging on her clothes, then looks forward and smiles as she says "well, every since that boost you got, you have become more and more fun to play with little fairy."

Across the large hole in front of her stands Cold Death, staring at her attacker with those frozen eyes while flapping her massive wings and repeating "SSSTRONGHEEEEEESSSSST," for the nth time.

The flower youkai grimaces and flaps her hand in front of her nose, then says "jeez, find another catch-phrase. That one's getting old."

She takes to the sky and says "I hit you with everything I had over ten times and here you are; still wanting more. I'm going to take a little rest now, so please wait for my return, you **fun** little zombie girl. 'Kay? Bye~"

Zombie Cirno just looks up and blinks twice while watching as Yuka flies away.

She ignores the escaped trophy and looks around her ruined kingdom.

Her eyes glow red beneath the ice, but soon dim down and she raises her arms, creating new coats of ice over the water without any effort, and then relaxes.

She looks to the sky again to where the flower master was, slowly blinks once, then turns around to return to her massive ice wall to resume her rest.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Arile was created by Willie G.R. (similarities strictly coincidental)

SEP 22 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Man, what a long chapter. So full of battles and battles, and then more battles. Sadly, I wanted to put more into this chapter, but it cannot be. Next chapter might end up being a lot shorter, but hey, as long as the story flows well, it should be no problem. Ah well, I'll get off your case now. Oh, and originally, the battle at the Tengu village was supposed to be against Lady Arile, but I didn't want to give an OC that much attention, so I switched her for Lord Tenma. And with that said, I hope you enjoyed this long chapter.**


	9. Going Up and Over

_Kasen's Mansion, 3rd Floor, 1AM (I think),_

_Found a typewriter here. Funny, I didn't realize there were so many of these laying around at random places in Gensokyo. Well, this mystery isn't important. Yesterday, Nitori came through for us and powered up our flashing weapons. Yeah, hard to believe, but she somehow managed to make this armor thingy for Satori-chan's third eye that makes all her flashes and eye-beams insanely powerful, and for my camera, I have a kick-ass lock-on system on it, the flash is incredibly powerful, and I can also shoot beams like Satori. Up to ten of them. Will have to try those beams with new spell card I made. So yeah, we left Nitori's house, fought some kappa, kicked their asses with the new upgrades, then we started to climb up the mountain and things got as bad as they have been getting lately. First off, I hope you remember what Nitori said about us killing Hina, because she was right. Many monsters are now far more powerful than before, and uglier, so I guess these upgrades to our flashes were imperative. It's like one of those games from the outside world, seriously. One of those 'upgraded' monsters is the yamabiko girl that lives around here. We shot her with everything, even after Nitori had damaged her, and she still blew us off with ease. Oh, and just before that, Marisa appeared, and our kappa guide went bat-shit insane and ran off. So anyway, we ended up in the worst possible place to be. My home, the Tengu Village. Seeing it like that made me realize that I don't really hate the place as much as I thought. It hurt to see it that way; so quiet and empty. And I had to fight my old crow buddy there. He tried to kill us, so we had no choice, and it really hurt me to do that. Of course, everything out there wants to kill us, eat us, turn us. Anyway, we ended up in my house, all my clothes were destroyed, so I'll have to keep wearing these broken old things until we fix this... maybe. In my house we also found the letters 'L-A-N' written in blood, and Momiji. She... well the other tengu looked like freaks with half youkai, half animal bodies with splitting heads. She looked normal, and was whispering my name, but she attacked. She was one of them, and so was Tenma. Seems some tengu, like those two, didn't really mutate much, but whatever. We fought Tenma and his stupid brainless minions, and thanks to the help of the white wolves, we survived and escaped that place. And just in time too, because the second we killed the Lord, those zombie tengu started crawling out of everywhere, like disgusting roaches. The wolves covered our escape, and we ended up at the top of the mountain, or so I thought. The mountain has changed. The waterfall should have led us straight to the Moriya Shrine, but instead we ended up in this small patch of paradise protected by Kasen. She's a zombie though; she and her pets. Nitori told us she made some sort of magical barrier to protect a good chunk of the mountain, but she and the animals were already infected, and she told us that right before asking us to kill her. Seems the fight with Marisa damaged her machine and she was losing her brain. Good thing Satori noticed what was wrong and fixed the machine, so we might be seeing her again. So anyway, seems the hermit's barrier allowed Kasen herself to remain fully sentient, but at the same time made her a murderous undying loon. She almost did something very nasty to Satori-chan, but I stopped her. I must admit, those claws in my stomach hurt, but it was for a good cause, and I am already healed, so it's ok. Well, once the sun starts to rise and this mountain stops rumbling and mumbling, we'll start moving towards the Moriya Shrine again. We have to talk to the goddesses there, but Nitori did warn us that they might be zombies too... so yeah, we are now just gambling here. But we have to do it. They could be the help we need to reach that damned mansion and end this!_

Aya takes the piece of paper from the typewriter and quickly glances over the words, then folds it twice and gets it inside her little storage cube, where it shrinks before being sucked into the open glowing circle, and thinks "_I'll leave the crying thing a secret this time. Yeah._"

She smiles after it closes up, raises an eyebrow while looking at the ceiling as though lost in thought, and asks herself "I wonder if anyone read the note I left at the hut by the village?"

The girl shrugs nonchalantly, stands up, and as she walks down the stairs she says to herself "eh, whatever. Even if they did, I'm sure none of them would care."

She reaches the second-floor room they are using to sleep in and immediately widens her eyes at the sight of Satori thrashing about inside her futon.

"Satori-chan?" whispers the tengu as she walks to her friend.

The purple-haired girl whimpers and clenches her eyes as though in great pain and Aya concernedly shouts "Satori-chan? Satori, what's wrong?"

The dreaming girl opens her mouth and sighs, then starts waving her right arm above herself why calling "Ko-Koishi! Mnh... Utsu-ho. Nnn-no!"

The reporter shakes her friend and calls "wake up! Satori, you're having a nightmare! Wake up!"

She pulls her hands away from her friend when the girl starts to scream and calls for help, then all of a sudden the satori turns on her belly and crawls out and away from the bedding while screams "Orin! Orin, don't-DON'T! Plea-!"

The black-haired reporter watches with shock at her friend as she moves around, half-covered by her blanket while moving around as though possessed.

Satori opens her eyes wide, springs on her seat and clenches her chest with her left hand while reaching forward with her right hand, then suddenly screams "NO, NO! **AYAAAAAAAAA!**"

The girl breathes through her mouth, desperately trying to keep up with her own heart while looking around the dimly lit room, then she spots her friend and the quick sensation of relief weakens her muscles and causes her to drop back on the floor with a thud.

Aya rapidly crawls to her friend and picks her up, resting her partner's head on her lap and asking "what was that? Satori-chan, what happened?"

"Bad dream," rapidly pants the girl while she looks around the room, apparently still unable to tell whether she's back in reality or still trapped inside her dream world.

Her heart quickly settles when she feels the tengu's hand combing the side of her head, then she gasps and says "Aya-chan! Y-you're alright! Oh thank goodness! Ju-it was just a bad dream."

The winged girl sighs as her own heart settles down, then hesitantly asks "um, ca-care to tell me about it? It, um, might help."

Satori nods as her erratic breathing continues, then shakingly says "I-I *gulp* saw them Aya-chan! M-my sister, Okuu... and Orin."

She glances around as if wondering if they'll just pop out of the ground while saying "the-they came out of nowhere. T-their eyes were glowing and they wanted to eat us. W-we ran, and ran as-as fast as we could. And then..."

She holds the crow girl by the back of her neck and whispers "she caught us! Orin got us, a-and then she killed you. She massacred you right before my very eyes."

A tear escapes the mind-reader and the reporter finds herself at a loss for words, then the purple-haired girl whispers "don't die Aya! Please don't let her kill you! I can't do this alone! If you die, I-I-I'll follow you! I'm too weak Aya-chan, so don't die!"

The proud tengu girl smiles as she expands her chest and says "what are you saying? I'm a youkai, a crow tengu! She can rip me to shreds Satori-chan, but I'll keep coming back!"

She gently pushes the purple-haired girl and settles her head on her lap, looks down at her friend with a warm smile and says "but she won't get to. You'll see. You and I will be just fine!"

"Really?" asks the mind-reader, making herself look like a frightened lost child.

Aya pounds her expanded chest with pride and says "of course! You and I are that strong and amazing! You said so yourself only a few hours ago, remember?"

Satori smiles, chuckles as a tear escapes her right eye, then says "yes. Yes, you are right. We are... that strong and amazing," and falls right back to sleep on the tengu's lap.

The black-haired girl stares at her friend, gently flicks the purple hair over her forehead, and then whispers "yeah. Strong and amazing."

* * *

><p>Hours later, when it should be morning, yet looks like it's already nightfall because of the accursed brown clouds covering the sun, the mind-reader slowly opens her eyes.<p>

She finds herself resting on the crow girl's lap, while said girl sleeps on her knees, snoring softly and looking so peaceful.

Satori smiles, slowly gets up so as not to wake her friend too abruptly, and once on her feet she stretches her arms, hip and legs, then places the covers of her own futon on her friend and quietly heads out of the room.

Minutes later, Aya wakes up, stretching her arms above her head and knocking the covers off her wings as she moans contently, then whispers "wow, even though I slept like that I still feel refreshed."

She twitches when she notices her friend is gone and feels a bit nervous at first, but calms down when she sees the cover on the floor behind herself and smiles.

Her smile vanishes when she looks out the round window and sees how the brown clouds seem to be getting thicker, and how they are making Gensokyo look like a never-ending night of hell.

She shakes her head to ignore this, thinking "_we will deal with those soon,_" then gets on her feet and walks out of the room.

On the ground floor, inside the kitchen, the mind-reader wears her lime-green apron and pink flower bandana as she cooks a breakfast of rice and vegetables with a cucumber on the side.

"That Nitori even packed some cucumbers," admires the tengu reporter from the door, smiles as she walks inside and continues "that's a great gift coming from a kappa."

Satori giggles as she walks toward the table to serve the meal, and as she pours the rice and vegetables on the plates she asks "so, did all that really happen last night?"

Aya smiles, though looks sad while doing so, then the mind-reader bows elegantly and says "thank you very much for being there for me. I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble."

"No trouble," quickly says the reporter with a spoonful of rice in her mouth, then adds "besides, after *gulp* you helped me so much yesterday I believe doing this much for you shouldn't be any trouble at all."

The satori maiden giggles, and then says "oh, I'm sorry about the spoons. Seems Miss Kasen didn't have any chop-sticks around, and the stove and the table were so dusty too. I had to clean up a bit before cooking."

The tengu nods as she gulps down the food in her mouth again, then says "hermits don't really need to eat you know. I'm surprised she still had these plates and spoons lying around. Anyway, I don't mind."

The girl points with her thumb at the large room behind, and asks "that black wolf didn't give you any trouble, right?"

The mind-reader sighs and says "no. Actually, the ward is protecting the whole house. He was so persistent about coming inside though; I had to flash him to shut him up."

"Good," mutters the winged girl as she takes the next spoonful to her mouth, and after swallowing she says "well, once we're done here, we need to figure out where exactly we are. I mean, we should be at the top of the mountain, but we clearly aren't."

Satori nods and says "best course of action would be to... take that swamp's path we avoided yesterday. Maybe it will lead us to the Moriya Shrine."

Aya shakes her head and says "ayayaya, no, no, no. I don't think we need to backtrack. I think we can reach the shrine from here, but we cannot trust my memory of this mountain. It's changed."

The purple-haired girl stares at her partner with curiosity and interest while said girl explains "you see, we exited at the top of the waterfall, and it should have led us straight to the shrine, or at least very close to it."

"I understand," begins the satori youkai. "Nitori did mention the mountain was most dangerous at night, which could mean that..."

"The mountain changes itself during that time," finishes the small-winged girl, finishing her meal and patting her belly with satisfaction.

Satori finishes her rice as well, then picks up her cucumber just as Aya picks hers, and after taking a bite, the mind-reader blushes, giggles, then bashfully says "Aya-chan, quit that."

The tengu chuckles, and then says "well, I'm just saying. She could have."

After taking a last bite of her cucumber, the satori maiden points at her friend while smiling, then says "you have a naughty, naughty mind Miss Tengu Reporter."

The girl flaps her wings while giggling, then narrows her left eye while asking "you washed them before serving them, didn't you?"

Komeiji blushes again, looks away from her friend, and then says "we-well yes, bu-but I wasn't thinking that. A... Aya-chan, quit it! I wasn't thinking about that! It's just the proper thing to do!"

Shameimaru smiles mischievously, and then says "sure it is. Especially when **this** kind of fruit is involved."

The purple-haired girl chuckles, then says "but it's a vegetable," then smiles smugly as she looks at her friend.

The girls continue to share as many laughs and giggles as they can before leaving the table to prepare themselves before leaving the safety of the mansion.

With all preparations complete, they walk down the front stairs past the dead zombie wolf, and just before they cross the gate the winged reporter says "Kasen's going to be pissed when she finds out she can't enter her own house."

While her friend laughs, the satori maiden scoffs and frowns, then says "hmph! Serves her right!"

* * *

><p>As they walk through the small piece of paradise; the green and fertile path left, saved by Kasen's protections, they can't help but notice the many lacking elements from the real Gensokyo.<p>

There aren't any fairies playing around, giggling amongst themselves, or plotting and getting in the way of travelers with a foolish prank that will surely fail.

There are no youkai running around, hunting for food or fighting for territory.

Instead there is an eerie silence, save for the howl of the unnatural winds coursing through the darkening brown clouds and the soft rattle of leaves when those winds fly down.

"This might look like home," begins Aya as she looks down to her feet, "but it's definitely not the Gensokyo I know. It's just too quiet."

Satori looks to her feet and glances around the dirt, as though looking for something to say, but then she notices how rapidly the little light shining down from the sky quickly dims, and now everything around them looks light nightfall.

She wraps her arms around herself and shivers a bit before saying "wh-what's up with this? It's so dark and cold all of a sudden."

The girls' eyes seem to glow a bit in the unnatural darkness; the little light that shines from the sky against their bodies and clothes looks dark blue, and now there is hissing coming from in front.

The tengu looks at her friend and nervously asks "d-did you hear that just now?"

From behind a tree to the left of the path jumps the dark figure of Hina Kagiyama, who raises her enlarged clawed hands above her head, opens her black mouth, oozing a viscous black slime through her small, sharp and jagged teeth, and roars ferociously at the two girls in front of her.

"What in blazes? I thought she was still dead!" exclaims the mind-reader as she lifts her armored third eye.

"Let's not question and shoot!" exclaims the winged reporter, and both girls immediately shower the zombie curse goddess with flashes.

The monster snarls and jumps back several feet, away from the flashes' range, then starts to roar and her own voice stars to warp as the black clouds from above enter her body through the crown of her head.

Her glowing aquamarine eyes turn dark purple, what little hair she has left turns black, her skin turns darker and starts dripping poisonous blood that sizzles when it touches the ground and dries it up, four massive spiked black tentacles grow from her back like a sick mockery of wings, and the greenish-red ooze from her open stomach flows like a flooding lake.

Both living girls' faces turn dark blue at the sight, but before either has the chance to comment, the upper tentacles from the zombie's back extends and falls toward the ground where the girls are.

They jump away to allow the large tendril to smash against the ground and leave a small crater underneath, then Aya screams "**RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIFE!**"

The LED lights on the girl's upgrades turn orange, and after noticing this Satori screams "she's insanely strong! Aya-chan, we need help!"

But they both know help won't come and look at each other with dread to this realization, and understand that they either run away, or somehow beat this monster before moving on.

They look over their shoulders to see if they are being chased, but to their surprise, Hina is nowhere in sight.

They stop with their flashing weapons raised while the tengu reporter asks "wh-where is she?"

Without their notice, a dark shadow crawls underneath their feet and gets behind them, then zombie Hina rises from the shadow in an instant and swings her claws.

Aya notices her in time to turn around and flashes the monster directly in the eyes, forcing her to flinch and stop her attack and giving her and her partner the chance to get away.

Hina recovers quickly enough and starts to spin around, and starts shooting curses in the form of tainted black charms before the girls can get too far.

Satori turns around and shoots a flash to destroy a few of the charms headed her way, then shouts "she's using danmkau! Aya-chan, she's using danmaku!"

The winged girl has had enough and takes her fan to do the same thing she did to stop her once before.

She ducks to avoid some of black charms, shoots a flash to undo several more, and then swings her fan to send a strong counterclockwise tornado to stop the spinning zombie.

The monster's spinning slowly stops and the girls cheer as they take attack positions, but zombie Hina quickly adapts to the tornado and starts spinning along with it, gaining intense momentum and merging with the tornado itself.

"No! She's pulling us back," shouts the mind-reader when the winds start sucking the girls toward the monster, who has taken the chance to spread her arms and swing those sharp tentacles around, and is cutting trees with one clean sweep with those extremities.

"Dammit," growls the tengu girl as she tries to pick up her wings. "I didn't think her rotting brain would remember this attack! **BOOF!**"

"AYA-CHAN!" screams the purple-haired youkai after her friend is smacked on the face with one of those stretched tentacles, but when she turns around to shoot a flash in hopes of stopping the tornado, she yelps after being struck by another tentacle.

Both girls are sent flying twenty feet away against the pulling winds before they finally hit the ground, then Hina stops spinning after hearing the pair of satisfying thuds, cracks a vile wide grin and licks her lips, then walks slowly after her prey.

Aya sits up, wincing and holding her left cheek while blood drips between her fingers from a deep gash caused by the strike.

She hears a loud and familiar moan and jumps on her feet, forgetting her own wound, and calls "Satori! What's wro-? S-SATORI!"

The purple-haired mind-reader lies on her back with her eyes open wide yet looking dull and empty as she convulses and whimpers in a desperate attempt to keep conscious.

Her face and hair are stained with the blood from the deep gash on her forehead, and though she tries to reach for it several times, desperate to sooth the throbbing, burning sensation, she convulses too fast to do anything other than whimper.

The tengu slides on her knees as she calls for her friend, who somehow manages to turn her blank eyes to the source of the voice and smile, then she starts gasping and chocking between whimpers, and her eyelids begin to close.

The reporter places her hand on her friend's chest and softly says "sleep. You'll be awake again soon," and as if waiting to hear those words, the satori maiden lets her eyes close up, her convulsing and whimpering slowly stop, and finally she allows herself to fall out of consciousness.

Aya stands up and faces Hina, touches her face and pokes the wound that has now become a black bruise, and gritting her teeth so hard she feels they're going to crack, she prepares her fan and her camera to attack the powerful monster.

* * *

><p>Hina's thorny tentacles wriggle their way around and behind Aya while the girl keeps her eyes right on the zombie, rage and hatred evident from the fire in her eyes.<p>

As the monster raises her elongated, thin, clawed hands, Shameimaru thinks "_I need to keep this bitch away from Satori-chan while she rests. I'll need to be extra careful with her this time. Gods, how did she get so strong?_"

Zombie Hina swings her hands and the winged girl swiftly swings her fan left and right, and shoots one group of red and blue bullets in rings after another while her camera locks on to the spinning doll without her actually aiming.

The spinning monster roars and bends backward after several explosions on the face, the tengu reporter raises her camera and notices all the beams have locked on to the inside of Hina's stomach, then rapidly says "whatever, as long as it hurts you! Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash!"

The semi-transparent rectangle appears between the girl and the zombie, and covers the monstrous girl entirely, then Aya presses the shutter and fifteen thick beams of pure light fly fast and mercilessly inside the zombie's stomach and expand on contact.

Zombie Hina screams so loud the reporter thinks she just hit the real Hina, but the monster adds roars and hisses to her scream, so the tengu takes the chance to shower her with flashes.

The zombie curse goddess retracts her tentacles and wraps her arms around her stomach while Aya hits her with one flash after another, and after several pictures are taken, the LED light turns yellow.

"Yeah! Take that you bitch! That's what you get for hurting Satori-chan!" excitedly shouts Shameimaru while pointing at the monstrous girl.

Hina roars, her tentacles extend again, and the quick crow girl finds herself using every bit of her agility to jump, dodge and move around like an acrobat in order to dodge the rapid swings from the spiked tendrils.

She's suddenly swatted away by the back of Hina's hand and sent flying against a tree, where she coughs after smashing her back against it, and after falling on her knees to recover, she thinks "_good. This should keep us away from Satori. But now what? I only managed to weaken her a bit._"

Aya jumps to the left, using her small wings to extend her jump, and avoids getting sliced in half by the zombie's claw, then flashes her face in mid-jump before landing and rolling on the ground.

Zombie Hina snarls and roars, frustration rising and turning her eyes red, then she starts spinning like a top, shooting black charms and swirling her arms and tentacles around herself, cutting the remaining trees in the area in half.

As the tengu girl runs away as fast as she can, she constantly turns around to shoot a flash at the incoming danmaku over her shoulder, thus buying herself some time to think.

She turns around one more time to deal with the next set of black charms, but gasps when she finds no signs of Hina or any of her attacks; not even the shadow she used before to get behind of her and her partner.

She looks all around; despair slowly rising and taking her senses when sound seems to leave the immediate area.

Finally, there is a rustle of leaves to the left and Shameimaru quickly turns and flashes a black blur, only to learn she's flashing a black wolf with an overgrown bladed, skinless tail.

The creature growls at her, but as if coming face to face with nothing important, the tengu scowls and says "shoo! Get the hell outta here!"

The wolf charges past the girl and cuts her entire left forearm before she notices he's moved, then snarls as the girl looks at the blood on her arm and slowly turns around with a frightened look on her face.

The zombie wolf bends down and jumps while Aya begins to lift her camera, then a beam of light enters through its open mouth, and the yelp of the creature is followed by the loud thud its body makes when it hits the ground.

Again, the surprised tengu turns around, then gasps and smiles before squealing "Satori-chan~! You're alright!"

Satori Komeiji leans against a nearby halved tree, breathing through her mouth while attempting to recover her strength; her face covered in blood from the wound on her forehead, which now looks like a black bump, yet she smiles as she waves at her friend.

Her smile suddenly turns to a frown and with a hoarse voice screams "behind!"

The reporter turns around just as zombie Hina breaks through the ground below her and wraps her tentacles all over her prey's body, missing wrapping the arms by a miraculous reaction from the girl.

"You annoying curse bitch! I'm so sick of you," shouts the winged girl through her teeth as the monster squeezes her with those jagged tentacles, drawing blood from her legs and hips and slurping after smelling the girl's blood.

Aya drops the camera and fan, grabs the zombie by the neck and squeezes hard, breaking through the skin and squeezing the vertebra directly, then speaks through her teeth "die! Just die already you fucking bitch!"

Hina's bones snap and her body immediately becomes ash, and the crow girl falls with the zombie's screaming head on her hands.

She throws away the head and quickly rummages for her fan and camera, and then the satori youkai stands by her side, clears her throat, and drily says "hurry. She's coming back."

The monster's head roars as it spins around, absorbing the endless misfortunes of the new undying Gensokyo to her, and slowly that dark mist takes the shape of a body under the severed head.

Before either girl can shoot a single flash, Hina Kagiyama makes herself a new body with the misfortunes from the undead world.

Her eyes remains glowing purple, but her hair has completely re-grown black, her new skin is purplish, and just a few seconds later, she summons another black mist and grows a blood-red and scarlet dress with a black swirl on the skirt.

Unnoticed by the girls is the fact that the little LED lights on their flashing weapons has now turned blue.

She smiles at the girls, wiggles her fingers at them, chuckles softly as she makes a very light smile for them, then launches straight at them, opening her black mouth and roaring as she aims to bite the tengu's neck.

Satori pushes her friend away and shoots several large bullets at the reborn girl's face, then flashes her eyes directly and makes her scream and drop on her back, then she kicks the zombie's stomach to send her flying further away.

The reborn zombie girl yelps after slamming against the floor on her face, but quickly pushes herself up with her arms and takes off, hovering a few feet above the ground and disappearing behind the thick foliage.

"After her!" declares the mind-reader, but she drops on her face after attempting to run, and Aya herself lies on her butt, panting hard as she attempts to recover from the hard fight.

"Let her. go. Satori-chan. We. will. get her. later," says the crow girl between pants.

The satori maiden sighs, struggles to turn over and sit up straight, then nods and softly says "yeah, you're right. I believe I need to rest a bit too."

She rubs her black forehead and winces, while the reporter slides herself next to her friend and sighs as she allows her body to relax.

* * *

><p>An hour later, the girls finally continue their way to the Moriya Shrine, walking straight down the path where zombie Hina flew away through.<p>

They have made it to the edge of the protected paradise and are hesitant to move on, but looking upon the path before them, the tengu says "well, I guess this is it. Back into that icky world."

The mind-reader sighs as she summons her own courage, then nods and says "ready when you are."

They jump on this new path heading left and up, then the mountain shakes slightly and a few vines and tentacles grow out of the ground on the path behind them.

Both girls sigh, knowing the dangers are still not over, however neither is backing down now, especially when the black-haired girl looks around and says "yeah, this is it. I believe this path should lead us to the Moriya Shrine."

There is a short pause, and then the purple-haired girl nods and says "I agree. Let's not assume anything yet and just move on."

And so they begin their march up the rising path that seems to go straight on forever, covered by those unnatural clouds in the distance.

Only minutes after beginning their walk, Aya starts feeling something odd on the ground and asks "hey, is the floor trembling?"

Satori looks around and says "m-maybe a quake?" then looks up and gasps and shouts "AMBUUUUUSH!"

From the top come several spiders with mouths on the abdomen, one of those mutant vampires with the fetus heads, a pack of white and black wovles, and countless greenish spirits and black zombie fairies.

The girls stand in place, the shock of the sight freezing them on the spot with fear and neither is able to even process the thought of moving.

The zombies and monsters run past the girls as though ignoring them, and then the tengu, after recovering from the initial shock, looks back and asks "what the heck just happened?"

"Aya-chan!" calls the satori maiden, letting her friend know they have five fairies and six of those spirits attacking them.

They immediately take their flashing weapons and shoot, downing two fairies and a spirit at once.

The rest roar and take their distance, save for a single fairy that goes straight at the reporter and tackles her from the side while trying and failing to take a bite.

The mind-reader flashes the black fairy to her death and quickly turns around to flash a spirit that got too close.

Even though she flashes it directly, the specter still raises a ghostly limb and grows a pair of claws.

Before it can strike, a beam from the tengu's camera strikes it right between the eyes, killing it, and the remaining three fairies sneaking behind the youkai girl.

The remaining four spirits moan and lament as they fly in circles around each other, going faster and faster until they merge as one, taking the shape of a skull-headed hooded figure with bone hands.

The girls stare unimpressed as the creature raises its bony arms to attack, then flash him simultaneously, making it howl then roar as it turns to a greenish cloud of smoke.

The girls look at each other and simultaneously ask "**a roar?**"

Behind where the spirit was is the monstrous Kyouko, covering her eyes and shaking her head furiously, and father up the road behind the zombie yamabiko is Hina, smiling at the girls.

Her skin seems to be losing its new glow and is drying up, yet she still looks a lot more lively than any zombie out there.

Zombie Kyouko recovers from the flash in the eyes and reminds the girls of her presence with a mighty roar that echoes far and wide.

She smashes her hulking fists against the ground, making a powerful tremor that immobilizes the girls for a moment, then rushes after them, snorting furiously with every move of her arms.

Aya grabs her partner by the waist and jumps as high as her little wings will allow her to, and shouts "flash her!"

Satori shoots beam after beam with her third eye, all landing straight onto the monster yamabiko's eyes, stopping her charge and making her roar as she rubs her whole face with that oversized right hand.

The monster recovers, aims her now-glowing yellow eyes up to the sky at the gliding girls, then takes a rapid breath of air and roars furiously at them, sending powerful sound waves that knock them right out of the sky.

They land behind the yamabiko zombie and watch with horror as her body expands while she takes in as much air as she can.

Aya flips on to her feet, takes her fan on hand, and as if knowing what to do, she swings it hard and sends a visible ball of wind at the monster and shouts "let's see how you like **that**, windbag!"

"Windbag? Seriously?" asks Satori with a disgusted look on her face.

Zombie Kyouko can't stop in time and inhales the ball of wind, her entire body expands fast and hard, and she falls on her sides and scratches her throat, tearing her own flesh in a desperate attempt to get all that extra air out of her system.

The tengu does not wait for that to happen, gets in close, and flashes the monster several times right on the face.

Kyouko's movements slow down, her body starts deflating on its own, and the girls sigh with relief after having defeated this large enemy at last.

The mind-reader gets closer, and somehow, watching those eyes close and that monster deflate while dying so slowly, pains her a great deal.

"Better if you don't look then," says the reporter, pulling her friend to herself and away from the yamabiko.

"Come on, we better get mov- what?"

Aya interrupts her own sentence when the deep-voiced monster starts to hum and whisper, and just as the last bit of air in her body exits through her mouth, she manages to say "kill master, please. No more monster, anger."

She expires, leaving the two living girls staring at her with pity and curiosity.

Satori sniffles, and then says "come on. Th-the more we linger, the more everyone suffers."

Aya is pulled away from the hulking monster, wondering if it was truly suffering, then she witnesses how some white tears roll down from underneath the monster's eyes, gasps and turns around, then takes quick steps to match her satori friend's walking speed.

She holds her chest as though trying to push her heavy heart up, then hears the laughs of zombie Hina and feels as fire ignites her heart once again.

* * *

><p>The girls run up the path, hoping to reach zombie Hina and finish her off so their climb can be a little easier.<p>

"Get out of our way!" shouts The tengu as the flashes a few black fairies to their deaths, their little bodies smashing against the ground and bursting in a sea of black blood and rotting guts, and continue the chase.

"There she is!" exclaims the mind-reader after taking out a spirit and noticing Hina flying up ahead from behind its body.

Aya notices the silhouette from the zombie, snarls, gets next to Satori, grabs her by the waist, and then runs with all her might.

"CAREFUL!" shouts the purple-haired girl as her tengu friend plows through fairies, spirits, and even smashes through a black wolf, breaking it in half with her sandal and leaving it howling as its blood and organs spill all over the ground.

The other zombies immediately rush toward the mess and start licking the blood and biting on the stringy pink organs.

She clicks her tongue after watching her target disappear through the brown clouds, but she continues onward.

"Wait, what are you doing?" asks the satori youkai with fright when she realizes her friend isn't stopping and keeps heading straight toward the sparking clouds.

She covers her face with her forearms as they pass through and can feel her whole body being lightly shocked by the yellow bolts, but other than that, the clouds feel just like the normal ones do; cool and soft to the touch.

She can feel when they stop, then the reporter says "dammit, she escaped again," then the mind-reader slowly uncovers her eyes.

In front of her and her friend lies a pond with yellow water, where dried lily pads float on, surrounded by grey dead trees, and adorned at the center with a destroyed small wooden shrine.

The pond of tainted water takes most of the terrain, leaving little room to move around without risk of falling into the water.

The purple-haired girl sighs and thinks "_great. All this water and I can't wash this blood from my face because it's damned tainted._"

Aya places the mind-reader on the ground and snarls, then says "The Giant Toad's Pond. She's hiding around here. Satori-chan, be on your guard. The toads were already dangerous enough when alive."

Satori nods as she glances up to the tengu, looking like a frightened lost child, and says "a-alright. I-I'll do my best."

The tengu turns around with a wicked smile and a drop of blood trickling down her nose while thinking "_dammit, that was ADORABLE! Oh my goodness, I almost couldn't contain myself. Oh... Oh shit, she's reading my mind! Think of Hina! KILL HINA!_"

It's too late, and the blushing purple-haired girl keeps looking away to hide her embarrassed face.

The winged girl flaps her wings once and says "um, so-sorry about that. L-lost my head for a second," in hopes to lessen the sudden awkward feeling, but it's not working so she just whispers "sorry."

The awkwardness is quickly cast away when a twig snaps somewhere near, and now tension rises as the girls press their backs against each other, finally noticing how much more comfortable it is without the backpacks, and raise their flashing weapons.

They can't see anything, even though the only hiding places would be behind the trees, and an ambush would be too hard to pull off because of the tiny gaps between the dead trunks.

"We move, now! Before something happens," whispers the tengu girl while she furiously glances all around.

The mind-reading girl nods hard twice, glances left and right, then they both begin a dash toward the center of the pond, making sure to keep away from the tainted waters.

They reach the next path leading to the right and out of the pond when Aya grabs Satori and pulls her down just before a pink spear flies above their heads and thrusts itself on a tree, missing their necks by a miracle.

It gets stuck on the tree, breaking its bark, and before it can retract, Shameimaru grabs it and pulls on it hard, revealing a large grey toad the size of a human child sticking on the trunk of another tree, making itself look invisible against it.

"Dammit, we're surrounded," curses the reporter when countless of those toads start revealing themselves and jumping off their trees.

The satori maiden stands looking around cautiously while raising her third eye, trying to count the many frogs surrounding them, but gives up after fifteen when the closest ones begin to move closer.

* * *

><p>Aya grabs Satori by the shoulders and says "try not to fall."<p>

Before the mind-reader even has the chance to learn of the plan, she is chucked over the trees and lands safely on a branch, holds on to the bit of trunk left on the top to hold her balance, then asks "hey, but what about you?"

When she looks down she watches as her friend unleashes small tornadoes all around with her fan, and sends toads flying in every direction, then sighs and starts shooting beams at random.

Surprisingly enough, each and every beam strikes a toad once on their soft bellies and finishes them off at once, and all quickly flop on their backs and wriggle their feet before dying.

On the ground, the reporter has made enough space around herself to start flashing the toads, and comments "for zombie toads, they look pretty normal!"

"Meaning, we better be extra careful," shouts the tree borne mind-reader.

Aya sends ten beams at ten separate toads, which flop on their backs after hit, then turns to face her friend and nods.

Soon after, the few remaining toads croak and drop on their backs, then Satori shouts "Aya-chan, something's happening to the frogs!" and thinks "_hurry up and come up here please!_"

As if reading her friend's thoughts, the crow tengu jumps up and lands on a branch on the tree next to the mind-reader's and looks down with interest.

The downed toads' stomachs start to jiggle and expand, their bodies begin to wriggle around or convulse violently, then their grey bellies burst, expelling a red mist.

From within the broken bodies crawl smaller toads, and these have a slimy reddish flesh that dangles by their visible bones, slimy red blood pours out of their muscles, their black eyes immediately fall off and burst on the ground, spewing an odd red slime that keeps taking over the ground as it spreads, and when they look up at the girls they open their jagged-toothed mouths and launch their tongues.

The girls yelp and flash the creatures from above, making them croak monstrously and forcing them to retract those tongues, but they repeat the attack as soon as they recover.

"Use the beams, it's the only way!" shouts Satori while charging her beams with as much light as possible.

The girls both shoot ten beams each and hit the slimy, bloody zombie toads between their heads, killing them at once, evident when the slimy blood they ooze stops flowing from their dead bodies.

Aya knocks out five more, pumps her fist in the air and exclaims "YEAH! Take that! You don't mess with these girls!"

The cheering stops quickly when something massive lands inside the water, causing the yellow liquid to overflow and spill, and as it runs its course it consumes the red slime and the many zombie toads around, sizzling as it burns them like acid.

The towering figure is none other than the Giant Toad himself, whom has grown to the size of two houses, its left eye is one large pulsating sack of puss, its back looks like a jagged-rock mountain side, and its underside and abdomen oozes a strange dark-bluish slime that looks stickier than zombie Yamame's webs.

The giant monster croaks so loud the girls are almost blown off the trees, but they stand their ground as they glower at the monster when they notice the figure on its head.

Zombie Hina, whose skin looks a little drier, yet retains some dark elegance to it, smile at the girls, places her hand on her belly and slightly bows, then sweetly says "girls good. Taste, yes?"

The monster croaks and opens its massive mouth, showing the same slimy substance the other toads where spilling everywhere, then shoots its massive stringy tongue straight at the girls.

They scream as they jump further away from each other, avoiding that massive tongue from smashing them along with the trees, and after balancing on the next branch Satori points at its left eye and shouts "hit it there!"

"How do you know?" shouts Aya, who jumps from branch to branch with great skill to avoid Hina's black charms.

The satori youkai shoots one beam at the pulsating sack of flesh that's the monster's left eye, where it expands and burns the fleshy sack, and the toad roars and hops back, causing the zombie on top to yelp out loud, then the girl looks to her friend and says "would you believe me if I told you it was just a lucky guess?"

The girls yelp again when the toad's massive tongue lunges straight at the tengu, while the mind-reader jumps away from black charms, having some trouble balancing on one branch before jumping to the next.

The giant monster opens its mouth again and Satori shoots her pink hearts straight at it, and as soon as they make contact and the frog flinches, Aya jumps from the branch she stands on, flaps the small wings to raise her body in mid-air to avoid zombie Hina's black charms, swings her fan to send a wind blade at the face of the woman, then glides toward a branch behind the monster.

Hina smiles, even though she yelps, when she side-steps the wind blade and allows it to strike the toad's head instead, which causes no damage to the monster.

The purple-haired girl shoots a thick beam at random, which causes the zombie to yelp when it hits, then screams as she jumps away from the monster's tongue, and quickly finds herself balancing on the last nearby tree in the sea of yellow water and shouts "um, need some help over here!" then shoots another slow beam as a defense.

The toad roars when the slow beam strikes its pulsating eye, causing it to explode.

It screeches as it scratches underneath the popped sack of flesh while it drains out greenish slimy blood, then the tengu girl glides besides its yellow right eye and flashes it before gliding toward her friend.

Zombie Hina screams "no! I lose again? No fair!" and the towering monster begins its fall forward.

Satori gulps when she sees the monster falling toward her and her gliding partner, waves her arms, edging the tengu to move faster, then gasps and shouts "LOOK OUT!"

The zombie curse goddess has jumped off the toad and is aiming to ram a boot on the reporter's back, but Shameimaru has other plans.

She swings her fan behind herself and gains more speed, catches her partner under her arms, then continues gliding toward the next set of trees away from the giant toad's reach.

Hina screams when the slimy underbelly of the monster sticks to her dress and traps her, and after the ground-trembling thwump, her screams become gurgled groans.

A few minutes after the toad has croaked and its body shrivels, the yellow waters from the pond drain away and the girls can, once again, place their feet on the ground.

The ground has been cleared of all the other toads and the only remaining slime blob is that from the burst sack of flesh from the giant monster's eye.

Beside the creature is the pitiable image of half of zombie Hina's crushed body, her blood spilling from what's left of her torso, her ears and her mouth.

She gurgles a laugh as the girls get closer, using her arms to move herself, manages to turn around, showing no signs of pain as she does, then smiles as she happily says "I lose again. Too bad. No more power. You getting good!"

"Save your compliments. We're gonna kill you anyway," spits Aya with a hateful scowl aimed at the bleeding zombie before her.

The zombie gurgles another laugh, then points at the sky and says "you two too late. You die soon. *Giggle* And when you do, this world become perfect!"

She begins to laugh again, spitting blood everywhere as she does, then Satori grimaces and shoots the first flash, followed by the tengu, who delivers the final blow.

They stare at the unmoving body of the spinning zombie, her smile and gleeful face frozen, then the mind-reader says "some want to stay monsters, other want us to succeed. Aya-chan, I don't understand anymore. Are we really doing the right thing?"

The reporter rubs her forehead, swiftly reaches for her friend's shoulder and pulls her close, then forces her along the continuing path while saying "we are. I know we are Satori-chan. We are getting our homes back and we will. Remember Kogasa, Yamame, Nitori, Reimu, even Mokou, Kaguya, and Yuka and Miss _Secrecy_ Eirin."

There is a long pause between the two as they pick up the pace, then the tengu continues "the Scarlet Mansion is closer. We can't back down now, not after coming so far!"

The satori maiden thinks hard, remembers how they just went through the Tengu Village, then thinks "_th-that's right. We have come a very long way, especially Aya! I almost forgot about that. Oh, I hope she doesn't hate me for doubting our goal like that!_"

As they continue onward, walking through those vile clouds that shock them lightly, the purple-haired mind-reader sighs and says "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me so suddenly," earning herself a friendly tug from the winged reporter.

* * *

><p>A whole hour past and the girls continue walking upward through the darkening brown clouds that continue to punish them with zaps from their yellow bolts.<p>

Though the shocks are light, their bodies are starting to feel cold and numb, but they press on, both holding to each other's resolve to continue the march.

The next set of clouds become darker and more aggressive, the bolts are stronger and now the girls yelp with every shock, falling on one knee yet pushing themselves up, keeping an eye for each other in case one of them needs the extra support, and just like that, everything stops.

They now stand above the unnatural clouds that cover Gensokyo, on a stone path leading directly toward the Moriya Shrine's donation box.

Their frowns slowly turn to smile when they look around at yet another piece of paradise left intact, seemingly unaffected by the magical virus, however, before their excitement reaches their heads, both girls relax their faces and the winged reporter says "remember, there could still be some monsters around here too, just like Kasen's place."

The satori youkai nods, then they both raise their flashing weapons, surprised that their upgrades appear to be completely undamaged from the shocks.

The long path before them is surrounded by green and healthy grass, trees and bushes adorn the surrounding area, some placed in neat lines between white bricks, and the after-midday sun shines its warming light on the peaceful shrine.

The girls cautiously walk up to the shrine, turning their heads around everywhere in case of any sudden attacks, but they reach the donation box without any interruption, and so they relax a bit.

"Phew. So far so good. Maybe this place is clean after all," comments Aya as she fans herself with her hand.

Satori chuckles, breathes in the clean air, and then says "I can't pick up any rotting scents. This place might be truly monster-free after all."

"HALT! WHO GOES THERE!?"

The girls twitch and stiffen at the commands of a young girl's hissing voice and quickly raise their flashing weapons.

They both begin to shiver, but courageously look over the side of the building, looking for the source of the voice.

A green, white and blue blur jumps toward their location from the living quarters of the shrine and they both gasp and hide again from the zombie Sanae Kochiya.

Her green hair has lost some of its sheen, and its length is only enough to cover her head, making her look a bit tomboyish.

Her right sleeve is so stained with blood it almost looks black while the left retains some of its white color, her vest and skirt are also stained with some blood, and by the looks of its shape on the fabric, it seems that blood came from her mouth.

He skin is brown and dry, the left side of her face is so dry her eye socket looks like a hole, and all the white from her eyes has been replaced by dark blood, yet she retains her usual green iris.

She points at the girls with her gohei and demands "what is this? Why do I smell COOKIES IN MY SOCKS? Get out of the house and do the laundry! Now stop fooling around and get me my MP3 player!"

The crow and satori dare to peek one more time, then sigh with relief then they realize the shrine maiden has her back turned to them while she scolds the empty space in front of herself.

They also notice how the skin on the girl's back seems to have been ripped off by force from the waist up, and how she wears her vest under the flapping skin.

The girls get back into hiding, then Aya whispers "I think we better get out of here before she sees us."

Satori nods rapidly, and then whispers "let's go around back and see if we can spot the mansion from the edge there. If that girl's a zombie, the gods must also be zombies, or worse!"

While the girls whisper among each other they remain unaware of the monstrous green frog with glowing red eyes and massive fangs on its lower lips, or the purplish-white snake with black-oozing eyes and bleeding mouth hovering above them.

After deciding to move to the back of the shrine, the purple-haired girl shivers, turns to face her friend, then asks "um, Aya-chan, do you feel like something's watching us?"

Before the reporter can answer, the frog opens its mouth and swallows her whole, and before the mind-reader can call for her friend, the snake wraps her up entirely, then the two monsters zip right through the wall, taking the girls inside the main shrine with them.

A few seconds afterward, zombie Sanae jumps in front of the donation box and screams "a-ha! I found you! Why are you hiding with my cel phone? That is not beef stew you morons! It's just plain STEW! I'm going to kill you. Eh?"

She looks around with confusion, scratches the side of her head, then jumps toward the gate of the shrine and screams at nothing in particular "I HEARD YOU YOUKAI! Kanako said you'd come today! I am Sanae mother*****ing Kochiya! **PREPARE TO GET SEALED!**"

Inside the dark building, Aya and Satori huddle together in the middle of the dark room, shaken but completely unharmed.

The tengu stops her shaking and looks over toward the source of a mature young girl's voice as she says "we're sorry we had to do that, but we needed to hide you from Sanae, or she would have killed you on the spot."

An older woman's voice close to the other adds "if you don't believe us, look at those L-E-D lights on your devices."

Shameimaru obediently raises her camera and looks at the reddish-orange light LED bulb, then excitedly says "wait, those voices. Lady Yasaka and Lady Moriya? You two are alright after all!"

The translucent images of the goddesses reveal themselves to the girls, showing no signs of mutations; no dry skin, no popped eyes, no disgusting wounds, and no blood staining their dresses.

Suwako is still the child-like blonde goddess in a purple dress, and Kanako is still the well-endowed, mature looking woman with intense blue hair in a red dress.

The goddesses stare at the girls, smile, then simultaneously say "**hello there girls.**"

Aya stomps her long platform on the floor and furiously says "don't you _'hello girls'_ us! Look at what you did to poor Satori-chan!"

Satori is still on the floor, hugging her knees while shivering violently and muttering "it's going to kill us, it's going to hurt, it's going to kill us both Aya-chan."

The translucent goddesses smile sheepishly as beads of sweat roll down their foreheads, then the goddess of war chuckles and says "er, sorry about that, but we need those appearances or Sanae won't recognize us."

"And if that happens, we'll both go **'poof'** before we know it," finishes the little curse goddess.

The tengu girl embraces her friend and whispers "it's ok Satori-chan, it's Suwako and Kanako, and they're alright," then helps her mind-reading friend on her feet, where she finally looks at the goddesses, gasps and exclaims "the-they're not zombies! Aya-chan, they're not zom-bies?"

She notices the odd stares of disbelief from the three girls in the room and asks "um, what?"

* * *

><p>The building's backdoor opens up, and from inside Suwako says "don't worry. Sanae no longer comes to the lake. Not since she turned into <strong>that<strong>."

The reporter and mind-reader walk outside while Kanako says "we can talk while you clean off all that blood and... whatever else you're stained with. After all, water is a divine body that washes and purifies."

Aya looks around and asks "hey, why can't we see you out here?" to which the straw-hatted girl replies "oh, that's right," then she and her older-looking friend become a little bit more visible, though still translucent.

The girls look around before beginning to strip, and while the mind-reader is already removing her white bra, she notices the large difference in bust size between her and her tengu friend, then bashfully blushes and turns around while removing her undergarment.

After taking their clothes off, the girls also notice the goddesses no longer have legs, but wispy tails like that of ghosts, so before entering the water Satori asks "and what happened to you two? Did the magic virus affect you as well?"

She notices the look of confusion on Aya's eyes and says "no, I can't read their thoughts. It's like there's nothing there to read."

The goddesses hesitate to answer, so the girls just shrug and get inside the beautiful glistening, crystalline water, though as soon as they do, the blonde girl tosses their clothes in with them.

"Hey, now we're going to have to wait hours for these to dry!" complaints the tengu reporter after taking her own pant off her face.

Suwako chuckles and says "don't worry, we can get them dry for you in a few minutes," then frowns and says "and yes, this virus has affected us, though in an indirect way."

The girls look at the saddened faces of their hosts as Kanako says "you see, with everyone turned into brainless monsters, there's nobody to gather faith from, save Sanae, whom somehow still acknowledge us, and now you two, which would explain why you can see us, even in this pitiable state."

The girls look at each other and decide to focus on cleaning themselves and their clothes, and as they do, they notice how the still waters seem to consume the washed and scraped off blood and slime; retaining its wonderful appearance.

Noticing their awe, the blond goddess says "a blessing I managed to place on these waters before the clouds got too close. Drink. You'll feel a whole lot better."

The girls quickly take a drink of the water and immediately feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and surprisingly enough, feel as though they've just had a full-course meal.

Before they can express their amazement, they look to the front of the shrine when they hear Sanae shouting "HA! Take THAT Marisa-san! You and your lies will NEVER touch the grace of THIS shrine! NOW GET ME MY CAKE BEFORE I CRY AGAIN! It's still in the oven."

They turn back to the goddesses and watch with amazement as they, even with those ghostly bodies, grab the amazingly clean clothes and hang them up to dry on a few branches.

"Hey, shouldn't you conserve some of your strength?" asks the concerned Komeiji, and Kanako turns around with a smile and says "how kind of you. No need to worry. We can still do this much."

A light breeze starts blowing through the clothes, then Aya notices the pink hearts on Satori's rose underwear and says "oh, I hadn't noticed those hearts there Satori-chan."

The mind-reader blushes and softly says "th-they faded a month after I bought them. They even turned white after the fifth wash. Um, please don't make fun of them."

The tengu giggles, then says "but they look so cute~! I won't make fun of them."

The blonde goddess chuckles and says "too bad the water only restores the fabric but not re-grow it. They will feel like new clothes, but the sleeves and holes..."

The blue-haired goddess sighs, and then asks "I'm sorry, we totally got sidetracked here. Um, I don't want to sound rude, but I am sure you two didn't risk your necks coming here for a bath, am I correct? What is it you want?"

Aya's face completely changes to house a very serious expression, then nods and immediately says "first know we are very grateful for your hospitality, but you are right, we didn't come here just for that."

The naked girls walk out of the water, their skins looking completely renewed after the bath as they sit on the grass to wait for their clothes to dry.

The tengu looks up at Yasaka and says "we need to get inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion from here because there's a huge ice wall all around it, and we can't fly thanks to Reimu and her charms."

Satori bows her head, and then says "it would be of great help, and you'd be helping us resolve this incident with the zombies and monsters."

Having gotten the goddesses' interest, the black-haired girl continues "you see, we recently found out it is Remilia who's controlling all these monsters, and we are sure she's keeping that cauldron Marisa used to make that potion in her mansion."

"We were asked by Miss Reimu to knock it down," continues the mind-reading youkai, "and she said knocking that cauldron down would end this mess for good."

"Yes, Sanae-chan also spoke of a cauldron when she came back that day," mumbles Suwako as she and her translucent friend hold their chins in thought.

Before they say more, Shameimaru continues "please, we have been through so much, and people keep saying we're the only ones that can stop all of this. All we need is a way to get into that mansion and kick that damned cauldron," then she starts sobbing as she finishes "we want our homes and friends back. Please, say that you can help somehow."

Satori stops comparing bust sizes when her friend starts to cry, sighs to prevent herself from crying as well, then says "maybe you can take these blasted anti-flight charms off our chests! Th-that would be of great help!"

The goddesses shake their said heads, and then Kanako says "these can only be removed by Reimu herself. She made them in the name of the Hakurei god, so there's nothing we can do."

"However," begins Suwako, quickly raising the girls' hopes, "we CAN help you get into the mansion, but to do that, you'll need to climb a little higher."

"Heaven?" questions the tengu girl after she cleans the tears off her face with the lake's water.

Kanako offers the girls their dried clothes back while saying "we can send you there directly and send a guide to take you to where you need to be so that you know where the mansion exactly is, and drop on it. However..."

Suwako gives the girl a very stern look and says "we do not know if heaven has been affected at all by this virus thingy. If you go up there, you will want to be well prepared for anything. And also, do not expect an elevator to the mansion. Tengu, you will have to carry your weight and that of your friend's while you descend. Are you two alright with that?"

Aya buttons her shirt as she nods, then Satori asks "so when can we set out?"

"Right now," replies the goddess of war with a simple gesture of her hand.

"But before you go," begins the goddess of nature and curses, "seeing as you're using those cubes to carry your stuff, please take some water of this lake with you. You might need its divine properties inside the mansion."

The girls nod, but before they ask where they can carry water, the little child-like goddess claps her hands twice and a small hole opens on the ground in front of the girls, and within it are twelve, brand new, empty bottles with caps.

After filling all the bottles to the top and dividing them into six for each, they start putting them inside the cubes while Kanako instructs "understand that once you are up there, you are on your own. And a word of warning: during the nights we see a lot of activity up there, so don't expect a warm welcome."

Suwako summons a small yellow butterfly that immediately flies on to Aya's left shoulder, then says "this little one will guide you to where you need to go. Once it turns red, that means it is directly on top of that mansion. I'm sorry, but you'll have to find a way to break through the clouds on your own."

Satori nods and says "we understand. Thank you for all the help you've given us."

Aya smiles and says "Lady Yasaka, Lady Moriya you can count on our faith forever, and after all this is done, I will make a party on the mountain in your honor!"

The mind-reader giggles, and then says "well, I'm not fond of loud festivities, but after this, I think I can make one party in the underground for you!"

The goddesses smile gleefully, then Kanako says "please make them on separate dates, and we'll bring some special sake!"

The four girls gasp when from behind them Sanae shouts "**A-HA! I KNEW IT! YOUKAIIII! It's time for some youkai HUNTING!**"

She takes flight and starts drawing a massive pentagram ten times her own size as she cackles like a maniac, then Kanako takes the bleeding snake form and shouts "I'll try to calm her down! Suwako, get these girls out of here, **now!**"

"Wait, we can help!" shouts the winged reporter, but a powerful updraft picks her and her partner up and rapidly flicks them toward heaven, while Suwako shouts "you focus on your task! Everyone is counting on you! Good luck, and not to sound like a bitch, but please hurry up!"

Before either of the girls can reply, the updraft becomes violent, and now they scream as they are shot up the rest of the mountain toward heaven, where who knows what may await them there.

* * *

><p>The girls scream as they continue to be lunged up the sky well beyond past the mountain, and then they feel themselves slowing down until they eventually feel they will start falling.<p>

Aya makes a split-second decision and grabs Satori before they begin their fall and glides toward a concentration of pink clouds.

The seals on their bodies begin to pull them down, burning their chests as punishment for their prolonged flight, but the tengu endures, wincing as she resists the pull and the burn, but the last magical pull is so strong, both girls plunge straight down.

The drop is short and the reporter falls on her face while her satori maiden friend rolls right out of her hands, but they soon find out they are now on the soft but solid grounds that are the clouds of heaven.

"We made it!" expresses the tengu, laughing as her anxiety swiftly becomes relief.

Satori chuckles along with her friend while saying "heh, fo-for a moment there I thought we would plunge back down the mountain!"

"For a moment, so did I," replies her friend.

They slowly recover from their fright, the burning on their chests subsides, and slowly they begin to look around to absorb the state of their surroundings as they get on their feet.

Their faces show evidence of their hopes of a peaceful stroll around the clouds have just been thrashed.

The clouds have a strange and sickly pink color, though it's noon and that could be a reflection of the golden sky lights, the peach trees on the fields to their left have all withered, yet bare some sort of fruit that looks like a rotten beating heart with petrified eyeballs all over, and the atmosphere in this seemingly peaceful world is taken over by a gloomy bluish mist.

Before either girl can comment on their surroundings, the yellow butterfly on the tengu's shoulder takes off on its own, then stalls after getting almost six feet away from the girls.

Aya walks over to Satori and says "come on. Something in my gut tells me we should get out of here as fast as we can."

The mind reader nods, then she and the tengu walk after the butterfly, who resumes its flight as soon as she girls get close.

As the girls make their quiet walk through the clouds, both enjoy the warm rays of the sun making contact with their skins, and to them the sensation is that of having several unwanted tingles scraped off the skin.

Their thoughts become more positive, their smiles start coming more naturally, and after half an hour of absorbing sunrays into their skins, plus the refreshment from the bath in the blessed lake, has the girls feeling completely renewed and ready for what lies ahead.

After ten more minutes of walking by small black rock formations, the tengu girl sighs and asks "aren't we on top of the mansion already? Seriously, how far were we from it?"

"Remember, the butterfly will turn red when we have reached the spot," calmly says the satori youkai, who smiles and says "let's be a little patient. We are getting into that mansion after this, and all will be well again."

Aya smiles as she prepares to reply to her friend, but quickly frowns, grabs the mind-reader, then takes her behind one of the small rock formations to their right, quickly shushing her and pointing to the sky.

From the distance they observe as several angels come flying from above the blue mist, all bearing golden spears and cheering while playfully stabbing each other wherever they can.

Their wings are all stained in blood and missing many feathers, their robes are full of holes and littered with organs, possibly from themselves, and their eyes glow grey and show incredible malice, even though they smile angelically.

"Oh shit," whispers the tengu girl, "the virus got them too."

One of the females stops her bloody merriment to stare coldly at the rocks where the girls hide, then hisses at the others, causing them all to stop and stare.

The tengu girl can feel her heart getting cold and beating hard when she realizes they have been seen, so she takes her camera, fighting against her own nervousness, then thinks "_I think they saw us, and I don't think they're friendly at all._"

The purple-haired girl just nods in acknowledgement and raises her third eye, looking more steeled and determined to fight than her friend, a fact that surprises the winged girl.

To both their surprise, the angels just fly away, back from where they came from, though Aya manages to hear one of them whisper "inform the Lady of the invaders."

As soon as the tainted angels are out of sight both girls expel their held breath, Satori exposing her fright as she says "boy that was too close!"

Though still shaken, the reporter grins and says "and you looked so calm just now."

The mind-reader simply shakes her head, and then the tengu girl continues "well, I think I heard one of them telling the others to inform someone about us, so there's a big chance everyone knows we are here."

She lowers her tone as her face turns paler "which means we're going to have to fight our way out of here."

The girls pause for a moment, then let out a sigh of defeat, then reluctantly stand up and look ahead to see the magic butterfly waiting for them only seven feet away.

They walk away from the rock formation and from beneath the clouds a pair of angels rush upward with their spears held tight on their arms, and block the girls' progress.

The black-haired male angel scowls at the girls and says "this is our Lady's world; you trespassers are not welcome here!"

The brunette female angel hisses, then sinisterly says "now we're going to have to kill you where you stand!", then looks at the satori youkai and adds "your brain mass should work perfectly as my new helmet."

Aya raises her camera and she and her friend flash the angels right on the face, but all that does is make them raise an eyebrow in question.

"Wha? The flashes don't work?" exclaims the reporter, then the angels laugh as they hold their sides, then the female says "that won't work here, crow-**RAHRGH!**"

Several explosions force the angels away, then Satori slowly lowers her hands, looks at her friend's impressed face, then says "lucky guess! Now shoot!"

The two angels recover, snarl at the girls, and then point their spears at their hearts and lunge forward.

* * *

><p>Aya pockets her camera and takes her fan, swings it once to stop the two angels with a swirling gust, and then Satori raises her hands again and shoots hearts and large orbs at the tainted angels' faces.<p>

They merely grunt and continue their charge, though slowed down by the tengu's winds, so the girls roll out of their way and hit them both with more bullets on the back as they pass them by.

"Now this is **MY** kind of fighting!" exclaims the reporter while moving around and shooting mercilessly.

"I agree," says the mind-reader as she jumps around the attackers and showers them with small shard bullets, "it is much more natural for me as well."

The pair of angels growl as they turn around, cover their faces with their hands to block the bullets, and soon after their whole bodies glow and they explode in a beautiful light of sliver sparks and golden flakes.

With their enemies' bodies gone, the tengu reporter cheers and shouts "YE-HE-HEA! This is what we want back! Good 'ol danmaku fights without some blood-hungry monster trying to literally eat us alive!"

The mind-reading youkai doesn't seem so excited and continues staring at the spot where last the angels were, squinting her eyes as though analyzing the scene, then gasps and shouts "AYA-CHAN, LOOK OUT!"

She jumps straight to her friend and tackles her away from a silver chained spear, screaming after the blade cuts her calf instead of cutting through the crow tengu's heart.

As soon as they hit the ground Aya holds her friend, inspects the wound on her friend's leg, and just as she's about to sigh with relief from the wound being shallow, she shrieks as the sight that greets her next.

Where there once were two angels, now there's one monster with silver horns over a slimy fleshy head, its jagged teeth shine chrome, its eyes glow scarlet, its black bat-like wings flap and send gusts strong enough to push the girls, its front legs are thick and round and are covered by chrome gauntlets with razor-sharp claws, and its tail is a metal spearhead on a stretchy black tail with spinning gears.

When the monster laughs it sounds like both angels are laughing simultaneously, then it snarls at the girls and threateningly says "you actually dare defy the angels! Divine punishment will be cast on the both of you for such brazen misbehavior!"

The reporter grabs her friend and jumps away before the tail spear and claw-swipe reach them, and as both back away they manage to shower the creature with bullets.

It just laughs as the shots bounce off and fly elsewhere, and then raises its left leg and swipes while laughing and saying "mh-ha-ha-ha! Those tickle! Come on, shoot some more! We dare you!"

Aya grunts, hops away from the monster, then Satori starts to whimper and cries "my leg. It's burning!"

The girl's leg is turning purple as it swells up, and her winged partner gasps and mutters "godsdammit, that's poison," then holds the mind-reader like a princess and jumps away toward the butterfly.

She places the girl under the yellow sprite and asks "can you protect her?" though doesn't expect to hear a reply and prepares her camera once again.

The little butterfly happily says "I'll keep her safe. You take care of that thing," with her high-pitched voice, to which the shocked reporter squeals "you can talk?"

"No time for that! Its weakness is the wings! I just noticed that," quickly says the little sprite, then Shameimaru scowls and nods, then rolls away from the spear just before it thrusts into her back, leaving it to crash against a magical yellow wall.

The tail flicks against the wall and ends up stuck on the clouds for a moment, giving the girl the chance to test-flash the monster, and after the burst of light touches its wings, it roars and drops on its side.

Aya smiles sadly and says "well, back to the flashing," while locking beams on those strong-looking wings and moving away from the reach of the monster's claws.

The demon frees its tail from the deceivingly soft-looking clouds and stands up, but the winged girl clicks the button on the camera and ten thin white beams of light fly straight at the monster's wings.

It screeches loudly when the beams make contact and expand right on top of the skin of the wings; its death scream echoing far; and falls on its head, glows bright white, then it quickly splits back into two angels lying on their faces, unmoving with blood quickly dripping from what the reporter assumes is their faces.

With the angels downed so quickly, the crow girl walks over to her friend, taking her storage box from her pocket and getting a bottle of water from within.

The little butterfly edges on "hurry, she's really hurting," then flies away from above the mind-reader so that the black-haired girl can pour the water on the girl's swollen purple leg.

Satori moans as she holds her knee, looks up at her friend, then smiles as she asks "y-you think that will work?"

Aya just smiles and tilts the bottle for a moment, and almost as soon as the bit of water touches the girl's leg, it recovers its usual color, the swelling subsides, and the cut heals.

Surprised and no longer in pain, the mind-reader says "no wonder Miss Moriya wanted us to take the water with us. I'm definitely making a party for her after this!"

The tengu smiles, rubs her friend's head, then turns to look at the little yellow sprite and asks "so you can talk? Why didn't you say something before?"

"There was no need," casually replies the butterfly, then quickly takes the lead and urges "now come! More of them are sure to come! We need to hurry now!"

The girls quickly get on their feet, nod, then run after the speeding little yellow butterfly as it leads them closer to their destination.

* * *

><p>For seven whole minutes the girls run through the vast kingdom that is heaven, chasing after the glowing guide, who eagerly says "we're almost there!"<p>

On the distance ahead, the girls can see a large ruined city, where buildings stand half-destroyed, some ruined by blasts, some by what may have been blades, and the legendary radiance of the cities of heaven cannot be seen emanating from this one.

Instead, the destroyed buildings look dull grey, their walls are stained with blood and random organs stuck on the windows, the floors around the buildings look like everybody has been leaking their juices there, and the dark-grey wall that should be surrounding the city is just a pile of rubble making a circle around the buildings with its golden gates still upright for some reason.

Looking upon the destroyed city and seeing as how they are going directly to it, the tengu girl face palms then complains "aww, come on! Can't the mansion be elsewhere?"

"But it's very close now! Don't fall behind" replies the little yellow creature.

Satori shakes her head and says "just let it go Aya-chan. Perhaps it won't be as bad."

Several grey stones with a flat top, pointy bottom, and surrounded with sacred ropes and charms, fly straight down the path the girls took and keep getting closer to them, forcing them to move faster.

They yelp and stop, and then jump separate ways to avoid the next set of keystones when Iku Nagae drops from the sky surrounded in blue bolts of electricity, and blocks their path.

The left half of her face looks like the humanoid face of a green dragon, with a brown horn on the forehead, has scales around the red slitted eye, scales around the lips and on the nose, and though the right side looks as normal as it gets, it still looks feral, and matches the intense look of the dragon half.

Her attire remains a pink blouse with a long black skirt and a sash with scarlet frills around the edges, but on the back of her shirt some old bloodstains can be seen.

Iku looks up and coldly says "Lady Eldest Daughter, I have halted the intruder's progress!"

"Good work Iku," coldly replies an annoyingly arrogant voice from behind. "You continue to show me why you have EARNED the right to be on my side."

The girls turn around to look at Tenshi Hinanai, whom has long blue hair, red eyes, wears a white shirt with colorful frills on the bottom, a blue skirt, a pair of long brown cross-laced boots, and whose only visible, possible mutation, is a strange black vine that seems to be tattooed on the girl's right cheek that move around like a cluster of coiling snakes.

She takes a small brown stick on her hand, points one of its ends at the girls, and then asks "you two! What are you doing in **MY** lands?"

Aya and Satori share a look of disbelief, then the mind-reader hesitantly asks "um, your lands?"

"**YES, MY LANDS! Are you deaf, or just fucking retarded?**" screams the celestial, her hair coiling up and rising on its own as a red aura forms around her frame.

The girls flinch and swiftly make a move for their flashing weapons, but they manage to stay their hands, then the tengu gulps and loudly says "we're here to get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. We can't reach it from the ground, so we're going to drop on it from here."

The satori maiden points at the red butterfly on top of the gate rubble and says "see? That little red thing there is telling us the mansion is right there, so all we have to do is dig through the clouds and-"

"**ENOUGH! LIES!**" screams the enraged celestial, and from her stick grows a reddish-orange scimitar the size of Momiji's sword, and she shouts "you are here to assassinate me and take my lands, but you won't get the chance! **IKUUUU!**"

The half-dragon roars like a beast and a massive blue bolt crashes between the girls, separating them further apart, then the oarfish youkai strikes herself with lightning and rushes after the crow girl with an electronically charged body.

Aya has to roll aside to avoid the tackle and get on her feet, then quickly reaches for her camera and flashes Iku three times before jumping further away, leaving the monster to fall on her side.

Meanwhile, the red butterfly calls "girls! GIRLS! Get over here! Over hereeee! It's safe here!"

The monster oarfish youkai shakes her head as she stands back up, then yelps when she gets struck on the back by several beams.

She turns around and snarls at the mind-reader, then waves her hands around and bombards the purple-haired girl with several orbs of lightning, lifts a spell card above her head, then shouts "Dragonfish, Swimming Oarfish Shot!"

"**A SPELL CARD?**" exclaim the girls at the same time, to which Tenshi laughs at and says "well duh you retards! Unlike you, we are all civilized up here. Now Iku, finish them!"

A massive lightning bolt crashes down on the dragon girl and separates into five electric orbs that spiral around Nagae, and then she rapidly floats over to the tengu reporter.

Aya takes her fan and swings, but is too late and the electric orbs make direct contact with her chest, making her blubber in an attempt to scream, then she is sent flying several feet backward toward the city.

Being so close to the ruined city of Bhava-Agra lets the tengu see the many actual zombies moaning while limping around, their eyes white and bulged out of their sockets, their mouths open as their blood flows from within, their skins hanging as though gravity has been pulling on them twice as hard, and their robes completely ruined.

The tengu girl feels numb, but still feels disgust as she gazes upon the angels, celestials and dragons limping about the city, some taking bites off the bodies found on the ground.

Meanwhile, Satori gasps and calls for her friend, but the dragon woman is already heading straight for her at full speed, and she now has to think of a plan before she is blasted with electricity.

She looks at the tainted celestial and stares, manages to read her heart for a brief moment, then raises a spell card and loudly declares "Recollection, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody of All Human Kind!"

"**YOU THIEEEEEEF! That's MY spell card! Iku, KILL HER!**" shouts the enraged celestial as she swings her massive sword around in a fit of rage.

A thick red mist forms around the satori maiden, which becomes a massive concentration of scarlet bullets, then a thin beam appears before the youkai girl and spins furiously in front of her.

Iku frowns, her fear evident in her eyes after her own spell cancels out, and then she tries to fly away, even with Tenshi screaming "what do you think you're doing? Get that spell thief and kill her!"

The oarfish won't have it, and after flipping a middle finger to the Lady, she aims to run away.

A tornado traps her in place just as Satori unleashes an immense scarlet beam, and she screams as her clothes and her skin burn away, while the massive blast continues its punishment without mercy, and is promptly accompanied by countless red orbs shortly after, adding more pain to the half-dragon's punishment.

After the beam stops, the oarfish youkai is left with just a bit of her sash intact, slightly covering her chest, and her skin drips to the ground like water, revealing rotting muscles and bones under a fake film of flesh.

She wobbles around as though looking for support before she falls again, but she's met with the furious Aya, who snarls as she holds her camera close to her face, then says "look on the bright side. We won't want to eat fish sticks this time, but only this time," then flashes Iku twice and leaves her body to drip more skin, which now mixes the her oozing blackish blood.

"**NOOOOO! What have you done to my kniiiiiight!**" screams Tenshi before Satori turns her attention toward the celestial.

Noticing this, the tainted celestial roars and shouts "you DARE shoot **ME** with my own spell?"

The mind-reader unleashes the attack in all its fury, the tengu prepares to finish off the remains of the celestial, yet the blue-haired girl remains, standing sideways with her sword lowered as the beam and the many orbs get closer to her.

She raises her sword at the very last second, veers the beam toward the sky, revealing and burning away twenty angels that were stealthily positioned above the battlefield's blue mist, then cackles before shouting "your puny powers can't compare to my own, you thief!"

The beam stops and Satori gasps, then looks to her friend and asks "um, sh-should we run?"

Aya scoffs, takes her fan on her left hand, her camera on her right, then whispers "we'll have take her down, or we won't be able to get to the mansion with her screwing us around."

Three of the five remaining angels in the sky dive toward the girls with their spears held tight, but as soon as they are on ground level there is a flash and a slashing sound and the bodies of the angels fall and roll on the ground while their heads roll over elsewhere.

Tenshi flicks the blood off her sword, looks up at the last two angels, who asks "Lady Tenshi, why?" then points at them and declares "these two invaders are **MINE!** If any one of you dares interfere I will have your **LIVES!**"

The tengu looks at her partner and thinks "_but aren't angels, you know, already dead?_"

The purple-haired girl stares back at her friend and says "we have been killing immortal zombies all over Gensokyo. It is not our place to question the celestial's methods."

"Damned right," says the blue-haired girl, getting the girls' attention while brandishing her sword, then points at them and says "now let's make this quick. I want to feast on your sweet-smelling flesh before noon!"

She grins, bearing her jagged teeth and blood-red gums at the invaders, who look at each other and simultaneously sigh "**she's a zombie after all**."

As they prepare for battle they remain unaware of their little guide, who desperately calls for them, but fails to get their attention every time.

* * *

><p>Tenshi sprints forward, leaving several after-images behind herself, and before the still-living girls realize she's standing between them, the crazed celestial swings her sword.<p>

She manages to cut their shoulders due to some miraculous reflex from their part, and growling with annoyance the blue-haired girl spins in place and kicks them both on the back as hard as she can, sending them sliding on their faces on the hard clouds.

Satori manages to roll on her side before finally stopping on her feet, while Aya pushes herself off the ground in mid-slide and flips and twirls back on her feet, facing the Celestial with her fan ready on hand.

The girls glance behind themselves and realize they are only inches away from several bleeding angel bodies, and notice how many have gouged eyes, dry skins under their bloodied robes, or a few jagged teeth on rotting gums.

They grimace at the sight, turn their faces toward each other, turn their attention toward the roaring celestial, then the winged girl raises a spell card and smirks.

The satori youkai takes her own spell card and she shouts "Recollection, Wind God Hidden Among the Tree Leaves!" at the same time as her friend shouts "Wind God, Wind God Hidden Among the Tree Leaves!"

Tenshi has to stop and marvel at the sight of two identical spell cards activating at once, where light-green shard bullets swirl and swivel around the girls and spread about in uneven triangle formations just as the pattern repeats itself.

The blue-haired girl sighs with delight and says "so beautiful. I...," then her marveled whisper becomes a whiny tantrum as she stomps on the clouds and shouts "I want that! **I WANT THAT SPELL TOO! GIVE IT TO ME!**"

Before she can make her next move, the zombie celestial is struck on the face, shoulders and stomach with the tiny burning bullets, and although tiny, the sheer number should be causing her great pain, but she only flinches the first three second out of surprise.

The tengu reporter notices this and shouts "increase the power! She's just shrugging it off!"

The mind-reader shouts "understood! Just be careful she doesn't get too- **KYAH!**"

Tenshi grabs the purple-haired girl by the shirt, pulls Satori's face against her own, grins and asks "too what? Close?" and then head-butts the girl, cancels the spell, and throws her several feet away toward the city.

The mind reader grunts and yelps as she rolls out of control and bumps against rocks from the destroyed gate, then finally stops when she slams upside down against a red wall, where her skirt drops down and exposes her tight black pants.

"SATORIII!" calls the black-haired tengu, canceling her spell and rushing toward her friend, noticing too late that the blue-haired celestial is already in front of her and swinging her sword.

A split second is all Aya needs to take out her fan and swing it fast enough to counter Tenshi's sword with a wind blade, then jumps back and shouts "get out of my way you annoying brat!"

The zombie celestial waves her finger left and right while clicking her tongue, then grins and says "that's no way to speak to the Lady of this land!"

The tengu reporter growls as she swings her fan at the zombie's face, then jumps away to avoid another sword swing.

Meanwhile, Satori recovers herself and sits upright, rubs her forehead while clenching her eyes shut in an attempt to settle her dizziness, then softly moans "oww, this is no good. I need to help Aya-chan."

"No, stay here! You will be safe," replies the familiar high-pitched voice of the little red butterfly.

The mind reader quickly realizes she is trapped inside a translucent red coned wall, and then demands "hey! Let me out of here! Aya needs my help!" while banging her fists against the magical wall.

The little butterfly pauses for a moment, then happily says "I'll call her so she can come too. In here is safe. You need to stay here!"

The mind-reader grabs her own purple hair and pulls on it while desperately asking "but what about that celestial? And how are we going to break through the clouds?"

The little red sprite-like being remains quiet, and then all of a sudden calls "miss tenguuuu! Please hurry up and come! You have to be here!"

Back at the battle, the winged girl continues matching the celestial's sword swings with her fan and creating wind blades to push the orange sword away.

The zombie celestial grunts with every swing, her patience thins, yet she manages to remain cool enough to think.

She feints a swing from the left, and the second the reporter swings her fan that way, the blue-haired zombie spins right and kicks the tengu's cheek with the talon of her boot.

The impact is solid and makes Aya spin in place, but she takes the momentum the impact gifts her, jumps, and lifts her leg to kick Tenshi on the temple and force her to back away, even though it's just two steps.

Shameimaru then takes a spell card on hand and shouts "Wind Sign, Wind of the Tengu Path!" and with a quick flash of her fan she shoots a powerful cyclone that pushes the sturdy celestial six feet away.

Even while her opponent blocks, the living girl takes the chance and shoots several flashes at the blue-haired girl, but all she gains from that is Tenshi's cackle.

The celestial moves left, leaving an after-image of herself cackling, which Aya flashes several more times, then grabs the reporter by the collar of her shirt and head-butts the girl so hard, the thud is heard all the way over to where Satori is desperately banging on that magical wall.

Hinanai grins vilely as the girl before she moans weakly while barely holding to her fan an camera, and says "that was a very nice trick, but now here is mine."

She turns to face the satori maiden in hopes that she will see how her friend dies, tosses the tengu up, then a spell card floats in front of her chest as she declares "Swordplay, Sword of Swagger!"

The reporter only has time to cross her arms in front of her face and pray the camera and fan survive the attack before she is punished by several sword swings that are to come.

It feels like a whole minute has passed before the final strike sends her flying straight toward the city, and she grunts when her head breaks one of the remaining bits of standing stone left from the destroyed wall, and yelps when her left wing is struck against an uneven pile of rubble, then she finally skids inside the red cone where Satori catches her before she crashes against the magical wall.

From outside, Tenshi cheers "oh yeah, who's the most kickass celestial! **I AM!**"

Aya quickly wakes up on her friend's arms, looks around with fright, and then the mind-reader says "it's alright! She's still boasting over there!"

"My wounds," comments the reporter as she explores her head and wing and doesn't feel any pain from them.

"I told you," begins the high-pitched voiced butterfly, "in here is good for you! Stay and you will be alright! Trust me!"

The girls look up at the fluttering creature, then turn their attention on Tenshi, who now stands in front of them, asking "and what the heck kind of contraption is this?"

She pokes the red cone with her sword, hits it with one full-powered swing, then scoffs and says "wow, what a pathetic device. It trapped its owners, but now..." she takes a deep breath and screams "**I CANNOT FUCKING KILL YOU EITHER!**"

The girls look around, wondering what sort of twist fate has felled upon them now that they are trapped inside a red cone with a pretty strong maniacal zombie walking around them, outside said cone.

The zombie celestial snaps her finger and smiles, and then happily says "that's it! I'll open a hole and make you fall to your deaths! I'm such an amazing genius, I scare myself!"

She stabs the sword on the rubble, thrusts it through to the clouds, then runs around the cone as she cuts a perfect circle around it.

Just before she cuts the last two inches, she stops, looks at the girls and waves at them with a smile, then sings "have a nice fall ladies~ Please die in dignified positions~" then jerks her whole body with force and cuts the last bit of cloud.

She cackles triumphantly while the girls scream as they fall to their deaths, or so she believes.

Unknown to the self-absorbed zombie celestial, the girls are heading straight down toward their desired goal, the Scarlet Devil mansion.

* * *

><p>Aya and Satori find themselves trapped inside the magical wall as they fall straight on top of the Scarlet Mansion's roof.<p>

They believe they are safe inside the healing light, but then the little butterfly says "I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can go," and the girls feel a jolt of panic throb right out of their hearts.

The red butterfly begins to flicker as she says "Miss Shameimaru, Miss Komeiji, it's been an honor. And Miss Shameimaru, your wings should be fine, so you can glide down safely the rest of the way."

With that, the little sprite flickers faster until she disappears, her wall vanishes with her, and the clouds underneath the girls immediately dissipate.

Aya quickly grabs Satori princess style and stretches her small black wings, then begins a spiral glide downward, however, as she does, she and her partner notice many large keystones falling in a constricting spiral next to them.

"Ugh! That bitch. She's not so stupid after all," comments the tengu girl after looking up at the top keystone; the largest of them all, then comments "but she still has an awful aim."

"What are we going to do?" asks the mind-reader, then she gasps when the tengu reporter grins, then she exclaims "please be careful!"

"Everything will be all right," replies the winged girl, then she glides over to the nearest keystone and lands, prevents the anti-flight charm from activate, then cheers "two humans with one stone!"

With the satori youkai safely on hands, Shameimaru runs to the edge of the stone, flaps her wings, then jumps up to the next one and runs to its edge and jumps up to the next.

She continues this odd run up to the next stone and the next, until she finally reaches the largest one.

The SDM is only a few feet away and most of the keystones have already fallen in front of the gates.

Aya tightens her grip on her friend and shouts "before this thing lands I'm setting off toward the lake. With all this racket I'm sure somebody inside must have raised an alert by now."

Satori wraps her arms around the tengu's neck, clenches her eyes shut, then says "okay! I'm ready then!"

The crow girl jumps off the massive keystone roughly a second before it impacts the ground, then glides away toward a cluster of dead trees near the ice wall.

The second her feet touch the ground she leaps to the left to hide behind those trees, and she and the mind-reader sit on the ground with their backs pressed against the wall of tree trunks and wait before peeking through the side.

As they wait, they start noticing a few things, like how far the Youkai Mountain really is from the mansion's island, and soon realize throwing themselves from it would have been a very bad idea, even with Aya's wings.

They also notice how the ice wall prevents the wind from reaching those shores, but how the gusts above it make a frightening whooshing howl as they force their way to the center, where the dark and eerie red mansion stands.

After several minutes of waiting, Aya finally peeks her head all the way, then pulls herself back and whispers "well that's odd. I was sure that at least the gate guard would have come to investigate by now."

After reading her friend's mind, Satori stands up to peek her head from the other side of the tree cluster, then whispers "I don't see any fairy maids either. And look, it's like this place has been abandoned."

The tengu braves exposing herself and hops away from hiding to get a better look at the mansion.

The architecture looks gloomier than before. Its few, dark windows are so full of grime and dust, it is visible even to the mind-reader from that distance.

The bricks are covered with fungi around some corners, and large cobwebs adorn the higher parts of the building, covering even the door on the clock tower balcony that leads into the building.

Noticing this, the reporter sighs and says "well, guess falling over here instead of the roof was a better idea after all."

The walls surrounding the Scarlet Mansion are stained with many blood splatters from within and outside, and there is a large chunk of wall missing to the right of the rusty gate.

"I don't see anyone sleeping there either Aya-chan," comments Satori after her friend realizes the mansion's gate guard is missing from her post.

The girls look at each other and nod, then they brave getting closer while the tengu girl comments "this all seems so weird. No fairies around here, nobody sleeping by the gate, and everything is so quiet."

The more they approach the mansion, the more they can see inside of it, even with the dark clouds blocking out most of the light, and having memories of the place the reporter sighs and says "this is so very wrong, even for this place. Not even a candlestick is lit inside."

Before Satori can comment, she notices there is a shadow moving around one same spot on the garden, then watches as the shadow splits apart into several thin wriggling tendrils, and shakingly says "I-I-I think there's something in there."

Aya scoffs, and then says "probably a mutated rose bush or zombie lilies. The vampire had an amazing garden before this messy incident, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's now one huge hungry monster wanting to eat us, or something like that."

They now stand in front of the closed gate and stare at the ominous architecture, and for a second they believe it is going to come to life and eat them in one gulp, but it just stands there, silent, eerie, and infinitely unwelcoming.

They look to their lefts at the hole on the wall, and immediately notice a small hut made out of wood and from the missing bricks from the wall, and simultaneously exclaim "**whoa! Another hut.**"

As soon as they approach it, the tengu lifts the golden ring on the door and takes a thick piece of paper from beneath it, opens it, and reads it.

_Dear girls,_

_If you are reading this, that means that after that fun little ice fairy kicked my butt a second time, I got mad and flew over the wall and raised hell over here. Ok, so I haven't really done that yet, but I will. As fun as that girl was, she still left a sour taste in my mouth. I might take it out on you, seeing as I followed you here after reading your letter and quickly figure out you are not here. You two are getting a spanking. Ah, but what am I saying? You probably got your cute necks in some sort of life-and-death mess, right?_

_Now, I went ahead into the mansion to see how things are and give you a little heads-up before you go inside. This might, or might not happen. It all depends on my mood at the time. Now then, there is one thing that I'm sure of, and that's the fact that if it's getting late, getting inside the mansion (particularly for you two), is far too dangerous. Don't give me those faces and think about it. That cute loli vampire was a pain in the ass before, and more-so during the nights. Imagine how strong she is now that she's mutated into who-knows-what. Oh, don't worry, I'll refrain from killing too many zombie maids while you sleep, eat and rest, or whatever it is you two do when you are together in an enclosed space while waiting for morning. Oh, and even though it's so quiet out here, don't forget to place one of those ward things in there. You never know what might happen._

_Yours truly, Yuka Kazami._

_PS: That lovely portrait of myself in the living room is very dear to me. Be a pair of good dear girls and clean the dust off of it in the morning for me. If you don't, something bad could happen._

She girls shiver, their faces turn blue, and then both take a long and deep breath before opening the door, fearful of disobeying Yuka's endearing commands.

The inside is an exact replica of the old hut, save for the kitchen and living room being made of the bloodstained bricks from the mansion's wall and looking a little more spacious.

The rest is made out of wood, and both rooms have a small typewriter beside the small sheeted beds.

Satori giggles and says "can't help but wonder where she gets such clean sheets from."

Aya sighs as she looks out the small window above the kitchen cabinet to admire the darkening sky and places a ward near the doorway, wincing after it shocks her hand yet again, and as she pockets her little storage cube she says "well, it's getting late for real, so I guess we stay here and rest for tomorrow."

She turns a straight gaze at her friend and says "come morning we finally end this! We walk through those doors, kick undead asses, knock that godsdamned cauldron, and we finally get Gensokyo back!"

The mind-reader nods, her face steels, and placing a fist on her chest she bravely says "I am ready Aya-chan!"

They silently gaze at each other, their eyes filling with steeled resolve and determination, then Shameimaru raises her eyes and holds her chin in though, then comments "say, this may sound odd, but I felt kinda weird without having Hatate chasing after us today."

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH~!" echoes the call of the incredibly stubborn zombie tengu, and the girls' faces turn pale.

Komeiji stares flatly at her nervous friend, blinks once as she leans closer, then casually says "you just had to invoke her, didn't you?"

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

OCT 1 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so we reach the SDM, at last! I wonder what kinds of horrors await the girls in the seemingly peaceful mansion. Ok, so I do know, but I'm not telling. I also wonder what exactly will happen after they kick that cauldron. Ok, I also know that, but I'm not telling. What I can tell you is that next chapter should be a little more frightening than action themed (which seems is what I have been doing in these past chapters.) Ah well, thanks for reading this far. Hope you are enjoying the fic.**


	10. Taking Back our Home

**Warning: Harsh language ahead!**

* * *

><p><em>Day; The day we take back out home! Right-side Bedroom of Yuka's Hut 2 (Named it myself.)<em>

_Aya Shameimaru here. And here we are. Yesterday we resumed our climb up the Youkai Mountain. We did so as fast as we could after figuring out it changed itself during the night. On the way we found out Hina wasn't dead when we first killed her, just playing dead. And Nitori had scolded us and everything for beating her. Jeez. Well I broke her neck with my bare hands after she had HURT Satori-chan, but then she summoned the misfortunes from Gensokyo to make herself a new body. Lucky for us the new body was weak, unlike her prior body with those sharp tentacle thingies. Still, she looked good with black hair. Hmm. Anyway, we had to chase after her, 'cause seriously, she was a bitch amongst bitches, and proof of that is when she threw an ambush of zombie fairies and spirits to slow us down, then Kyouko. Oh yes, we had to take her down. The poor thing; she must have been acting against her own will, because after we beat her she asked us to win; to kill the master, similar to the zombie nun at the flying ship. Erm, anyway, we got to the Giant Toad's Pond where we had to fight these nasty slimy toad things that mutated into even nastier slimy monster toads, and Hina, that bitch, had the Giant Toad himself working for her. Thanks to Satori-chan's quick thinking though, we beat that toad, broke Hina's body before it got strong again, and moved onward. We reached the Moriya Shrine, and what a surprise, it was another wondrous piece of the REAL Gensokyo, and for a moment we thought there really were no zombies, but then Sanae came out of the house. She was INSANE! Talking about M-Ps and Threes, claiming cakes, arguing with the air... Seriously, she totally lost her mind, but as insane as she was, er, is; she is still insanely strong; heck, stronger than before, even! Oh, and the goddesses. Well, at first they looked like zombie animal versions of themselves, but it turns out they weren't affected by the virus, well, not DIRECTLY anyway. See, their bodies were transparent and they were very weak, all because there is nobody out there with enough brains to worship them and give them faith, and yet they still helped us. Satori-chan and I felt a bit bad for making them overexert themselves to help, but they said it was alright, that our faith in them would be more than enough for them to help and keep going. OH! And the water at the lake, it was blessed before the virus got too close, and it works like this wonder-water that cleans, heals, feeds, and restores anything or anyone it touches. Hmm, maybe we should have asked if it worked on the zombies. Ah well, moving on, they helped us reach Heaven, from where we would reach the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and gave us this little butterfly that would guide us to it. I swear, the walk there was a little too long, but whatever. Um, that's right; the virus had also affected that place as well. Angels were acting like self-destroying morons, and though while in their angel forms we could kill them with danmaku bullets, when they merged and formed this poisonous demon that got Satori-chan on the leg, our flashes could hurt their wings. Pathetic, right? And so we reached Bhava-Agra, and boy it was a mess. Zombies everywhere in the city; but the REALLY stupid type that just walk and moan. Oh no, those were no problem. The real problems were that celestial, Tenshi Hinanai, and that oarfish she hangs with, Iku Nagae. She really hurt me, stupid lightning bitch. Satori-chan read Tenshi's heart for a moment and got her strongest spell card, and with that she took care of Iku, but Tenshi was not as easy. I swear, though she presented no signs of mutation, other than that wiggling tattoo on her cheek and those red gums with sharp teeth; she WAS a zombie. Furthermore, I think she even became a little smarter, though also a lot more self-absorbed._

_Well, whatever. In the end, Satori-chan and I got trapped under the butterfly's red wall, which healed us and protected us, then that celestial did the digging job for us and sent us plunging to the mansion. The smart-ass also send a few keystones after us, but they only helped us, so it seems she's the same old-same old. And so, we now find ourselves inside another hut made by Yuka in front of the SDM, and as soon as the sun starts shining what little light it... Oh wait, the clouds have gotten so bad they are making it look like night all the time. We'll have to follow our instincts on this one and HOPE we are breaking into that place at daytime. Oh, and about this hut, yeah it's nice, but bloody bricks are not the kind of decor I would have picked. Maybe it's something Yuka likes? She's inside the mansion, or at least that's what her note claims. Oh, that's right. Her portrait!_

Right after finishing her notes, the tengu reporter's nostrils are greeted by the delectable scent of ham, vegetables, eggs, and that nostalgic aroma of Reimu's green tea.

She opens her eyes wide with surprise, rolls to the other side of her bed, rushes out of her room, and finds her mind-reading friend in her usual lime-green apron and bandana, cooking a whole breakfast course, her cheeks bright pink as a wide smile that stretches from ear to ear graces her face.

She turns around with that blissful expression, sighs and sings "good~ morning Aya-chan~ Ah, this aroma is so delightful! I just can't stop smiling!"

The scenery makes Aya blush as well, and soon after she's inside her own mind, picturing the purple-haired girl wearing nothing **but** the apron, though as soon as she thinks it, she smashes the image with two giant onions.

"Giant onions?" asks Satori with a curious look on her still-pink face.

The perverted tengu turns her flushed face away to hide the steam coming out of her nose and open mouth, then says "no, sorry. I'm just hungry."

The all-knowing youkai girl giggles, and then says "then you're just in time. Breakfast is ready, so let's dig in."

While enjoying their meal, and after the black-haired crow has calmed down, she looks at her satori friend and asks "and where did you get all of this? I thought we only had rice, a few vegetables, and those mashed cucumbers in a bag."

The purple-haired girl points with her chopsticks behind her friend at a portrait of a smiling Yuka surrounded by sunflowers, daisies, lilies, and azaleas, then says "I cleaned the dust off the portrait and it moved on its own after I was done. I found all of these ingredients in there. There was also a note asking to save half of the ham, so I did just that."

The winged girl chuckles and says "heh, a shame. I could go for a whole storage of meat right about now, but," she stares at the sliced piece of ham on her chopsticks and finishes "I guess this will have to do."

Satori stops eating and stares at her friend with worry, then says "today we go into that place. Today we fight to take our homes back. Are you ready for what may be waiting for us inside that creepy place?"

Aya stares back at her friend with steeled determination in her eyes, smiles, then says "if it has to be done, I am ready to raze that whole godsdammed mansion to the ground and turn that cauldron upside down twice if I have to! We will get Gensokyo back, no matter what."

The two partners silently share that powerful resolve, and without words or prior thoughts they nod, agreeing on an unspoken term of 'nobody gets left behind'.

After the nod, the tengu girl says "we've come this far together after all."

The mind-reading girl sighs and says "and we **will** finish this together."

* * *

><p>Right after having their breakfast, the girls exit the safety of the hut, and brave the immortal zombie world once more, though this time they do so with light smiles on their faces, seeing as their goal is just a few steps away.<p>

The unnatural brown clouds above have turned a little darker, making Gensokyo look like it's stuck in nighttime, even though some morning sun rays manage to shine through, though very briefly.

The trees around them seem to have grown considerably from almost twelve hours before, and their branches look like they have risen to prepare and grasp any unlucky passerby.

The wind howls high above them, and is currently the only source of sound around the girls as the ice wall still prevents even a soft breeze to come through.

The tengu flaps her tiny wings and whispers "still no gate guard, fairies, or anything. This all seems so very suspicious."

"Maybe Yuka's turned them all into ashes," says the satori maiden in a hopeful tone. "She seemed pretty mad in her letter."

Shameimaru gulps, nods, and then says "yeah, maybe you're right. Hey, who knows, maybe she killed everything in there for us already."

They slowly walk through the hole on the wall and reach the mansion's large garden, and with pale, surprised faces they both say "**then again, maybe not.**"

What was once a beautiful garden with ornamental shrubs, beautiful flowers, and elegant white tiles, is now a frightening swamp with plants that are made of green tentacles dripping blood from their thorns, killer flowers with stems the size of Momiji's legs that are slowly devouring the lower half of a dead fairy maid while their shriveled neighbors wait for another victim in one of the many flowerbeds, and underneath some stained white tiles there are fleshy worms with eyeballs on random places of their brown, decaying, cylindrical bodies.

Those worms move around underneath the tiles and pop out at random to glance around, as though guarding their territory or just searching for something.

The soil under the tiles, on the flowerbeds, and immediately around the tentacle bushes, has taken a dangerous looking purple tone, and seems to be moving on its own, or perhaps it's just the plant's roots and the giant worms moving underneath.

The girls freeze in place and stare at the sight of the garden, continue looking around as their faces quickly turn blue from the disgust and fright they are feeling, and after looking around long enough, the tengu girl gulps and nervously says "c-c-come on. W-w-we have to g-get to that mansion."

The mind-reader glances over to her friend and thinks "_you have GOT to be kidding me? How are we supposed to do this? Someone that can fly, please SAVE US!_" and after letting lose inside her mind, she sighs and calmly says "alright, I'm ready. Besides, we won't do much just standing here."

The reporter wonders for a second if she should ask her friend why she took so long to reply, but considering what's in front of them at the moment, she decides to save her questioning, nods, then takes the very first step into the garden.

The girls whimper upon placing their feet on the ground when they feel it moving under their shoes, like a cluster of worms wriggling beneath a thin carpet, but when nothing else happens, they move on.

They stick themselves to the wall and take baby steps toward the tiles leading inside the large architecture, begging the fates to allow them a peaceful tread through.

Wet noises coming from the moving plants greet their ears as they walk by, thinking those plants are communicating amongst themselves, probably plotting horrible ways of consuming the fresh meat treading through their home.

But the girls move on, holding their flashing weapons tight and ready in case they need them.

They finally reach the tiles right behind the rusty gate, and sigh with great relief after such an accomplishment, but their relief is short lived when they realize they still have to tread through the disgusting worms moving beneath those solid tiles.

They glance at each other, nod, and then take the first step forward.

The wind above them howls loudly, the plants on the other side of the tiles go crazy and start to furiously smash their stems against the nearest tiles, thus riling up the disgusting worms, which screech in a high-pitched tone as they furiously wriggle beneath them.

The girls raise their weapons and wait, but as soon as the howling winds stop, the plants calm down and the worms stop moving around as fast.

They swallow their desire to whimper when the sense of relief mixes with dread and anxiety inside their hearts, thus turning their limbs into icy gelatin.

Aya turns her shaky head to Satori and notices how her friend's eyes match her own; frightful and out of focus; and thinks "_let's try walking casual and fast. If we tip-toe all the way, we are going to get killed eventually!_"

The satori maiden nods, both girls take in as much air as they can and slowly exhale, then begin walking on those dreaded tiles, going casual and softly, but as fast as they can.

They reach the halfway point rather quickly, and then the tile to the crow girl's left rises up when a disgusting worm with bits of hair around its many eyes and slimy skin rises up and stares.

It has the tengu right there, but it appears to be ignoring her completely, and as fast as it rose, it hides again, breaking the tile when it crashes on the floor below.

The mind-reader whispers "Aya-chan, are you alright?"

Aya is shaken, but she still manages to look at her friend and raise a thumb up.

The ground begins to shake violently and the girls fall on their butts, and the first set of tiles near the gate begin to rise along with the ground itself.

A giant worm with circling teeth on a giant cylindrical mouth, and with its back covered with the smaller multi-eyed worms, roars furiously to the sky, and then dives down as though diving in water, then rapidly rushes after the girls from beneath the ground.

Satori looks at her third eye armor and notices the LED light is red, then screams "RUN! Run away!"

Both girls jump on their feet and run as fast as they can, though the worm moves faster and is already reaching them.

It exposes the top side of its body; its wormy hair wriggling excitedly; and begins opening its mouth, swallowing the tiles and the earth as it wriggles toward its meal, but luck smiles on the girls.

They reach the small steps in front of the door, enter the pitch-black building, and just like that, the worm stops the chase and stares at the closing door.

It roars sadly upon the realization that it just lost its fresh meal, and although it could just destroy the mansion itself with its massive body, it turns around, roaring sadly as it does, then settles itself just below the dirt, resuming its incessant watch with its countless worm eyes.

* * *

><p>The inside of the mansion is so dark, the youkai girls can barely see past the tip of their noses, and what bit of light that comes from outside helps little to none to see anything significant.<p>

Another disturbing factor of the dark mansion is how eerily silent it is; not the sound of the fire lamps, nor the fluttering of fairy wing, their giggles or playful murmurs, not even the sound of pattering feet on the carpet greets the two visitors.

The only sound the tengu girl can pick up is the sound of their fast-beating hearts and her friend rummaging through her skirt, and so the winged girl softly whispers "Satori-chan, what are you doing?"

The silence is so unreal that when the mind-reader turns on a flashlight, both girls can hear it hum as it shoots its beam of light against the derelict walls.

Handing over a second flashlight, Satori softly whispers "we need to move. I don't feel right just standing around in here."

Aya turns on her flashlight and points it at the stairs close by and says "neither do I. It's like this whole place is watching us."

The beams of light seem to eat through the darkness and expand upon their pointed locations, giving the girls a good look of the now derelict building.

The stairs are covered with dried blood, the left-side rails have had their hand guards removed, and the ornamental stakes are now adorned by several fairy organs wrapped around their cylindrical shapes, all shriveled and dried with decay.

The wooden support beams on the ceiling are dirty with mold and thick sheets of dust, rotten to the point that they look just about ready to crack under their own weight, and the ceiling itself has a few dark stains and thick cobwebs.

The walls have old mold, cracks and craters, dried splattered blood all over, the ornaments and portraits all lie on the ground, whether smashed into pieces or slightly damaged and leaning against those walls.

And the carpets, though still there, are riddled with tears and odd stains of several colors, one in particular that lies next to the stairs, looks like it was a recent acid spill that burned the red fabric and singed the wooden floor beneath.

The girls gasp with fright when they beam their lights on the floor in front of them and find a small mound of dried blood only a few feet before them, where the room's elegant gold chandelier lies smashed on the ground on a small crater, where the carpet appears to be sucking itself into.

"What the hell could have bled so much?" asks the tengu reporter while subconsciously taking a picture of the bloody mess.

The satori maiden starts moving her flashlight and looking around in a paranoid frenzy, then nervously says "the-there's something in here!"

No sound is heard, no movement is seen or felt, and yet the purple-haired girl continues looking around, to which her winged partner places her hand on the girl, startling her, then whispers "come on, let's go down this corridor. I'm not sure, but I think this leads to that library."

She points her beam of light toward a large corridor to the right, where several destroyed cobwebs dangle under the archway, and further into the path, an eerie glow illuminates an ornamental cabinet, and a frightening portrait of Remilia grinning sinisterly; which hangs above said cabinet; appears to be staring at them from its position.

Satori gulps, her nervousness starts to get the best of her, but seeing her friend so close and so determined, she gulps a second time and steels herself, then nods and whispers "let's move then."

Aya leads the way, and although tension is supposed to be running high, her blissful face suggests the contrary to that.

As they walk down the corridor, the frightened satori youkai shivers as she moves, even though she is wrapping her arms around the tengu's waist from behind and keeps pressing her cheek against the girl's hip.

The blissful tengu can't hide her jolly state, even when she softly says "come on, don't be afraid. It's not so bad. I'll be here if anything happens."

The mind-reader is just about to start crying as she whimpers "but there's something here! Something is staking us, but we can't see it. I feel it could just strike at any-**HYAAAAA!**"

There are a couple light thuds from behind, and the purple-haired girl screeches out loud, causing her friend to yelp, drops her flashlight, and starts shooting flashes into the darkness like a mad girl, screaming "I knew it! It's coming, it's coming! Kill iiiiit!"

The tengu reporter calms herself down wraps her arms around the girl from behind and holds her tight, stopping her from shooting so recklessly, then loudly says "it's ok, it's alright! There's nothing there!"

As her friend begins to calm down, though still breathes rapidly through her mouth, the small winged tengu continues "it's ok, there's nothing there," points her flashlight toward the source of the sound and continues "the portrait just fell. It was just that."

Remilia's portrait had fallen on the ornamental cabinet, and then had dropped to the ground, and although it seems like it just fell on its own, Aya notices two things.

One being the hanging string behind the portrait is still there, and the second is the stake where it was hanging from remains secure on the wall.

She realizes Satori must be more upset than she believed at first, seeing as she still hasn't picked up on that thought, and decides to keep quiet about it for the time being.

The black-haired girl places her edgy friend back on the ground as gently as she can, picks up the second flashlight, then says "hold on to me and don't let go. Now let's keep moving."

The satori youkai quickly wraps he arms around the tengu again, takes her flashlight, and clenching her eyes like a frightened human child she shakes her trembling head, and now both resume their way down the corridor.

As they walk toward the unknown destination, they start hearing the faint howl of the wind from outside, though it's short lived, and the cemetery-like silence reigns the dark building once more.

Satori feels a cold chill crawl up her legs to her spine, hiccups, then pushes her friend to run while crying "move, move, move! It's behind us! It's right behind us!"

"Wh-what the- Satori-chan, what are you doing?" asks the confused reporter girl, but long before she can get an answer, she drops on her face on the carpet, and the terrified mind-reader turns around, blindly reaches for a door, then slams it shut and immediately grabs what she hopes is a piece of wood and rams it on the door's hooks.

Aya gets back up on her feet and demands "what is going on? What's the matter with you? Satori-chan, there was nothing behind us!"

The youkai girl curls up into a shivering ball, and when the flashlight illuminates her, the reporter can see tears of despair and a lost look on the girl's eyes.

The purple-haired satori looks at her partner and nervously says "there is! Th-there's something out there! I can't see it, I can't hear it, I can't read its mind, but it's there! I can **feel **it! I-it's after us!"

The tengu sighs, swiftly picks up her shivering partner, and says "Satori-chan, you have become so much stronger than this. Please, don't do this now. I need you with me to finish this mess."

She shivering youkai nods twice, grabs her flashlight with both shaky hands, concentrating on holding it, seeing as her friend is helping her keep on her feet, and they look at their new surroundings.

They have reached a beautifully elegant dining room with blood-red curtains covering the windows, a scarlet mantle covers a long dinner table, which remains untouched, save by the dust, and it appears to have been ready for a feast, probably before the incident.

Plates and utensils are all set in front of each elegant chair, which have red cushions on the seat and back, and are framed with gold, several gold candle holders stand prepared with three unused candles on each, an ornament of dead flowers is set on the very center of the table, but by the looks of things, nobody ever made it to dinner, not even the servants with the feast.

The regal scarlet carpets look clean though a bit dusty, and while exploring the floor, looking for signs of blood, monsters, of whatever may be inside the mansion, the girls notice the master's chair; a golden throne with blood-red cushions that lies on the floor on its back with the left back leg torn.

The tengu reporter whistles as she looks at the elegant gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and says "wow, guess we're in the dining room. Let's explore the place. Maybe we can snatch a few pounds of meat while we're at it."

Shameimaru giggles, but Komeiji just whimpers, seeing as food is the last thing in her mind right now, and though held by her friend as they make their way to the kitchen, she manages to turn around and twitches when she believes she sees a shadow moving in the dark.

* * *

><p>The short walk to the kitchen is uneventful, and yet the mind-reading girl shivers like she's been through hell and back.<p>

Aya sighs, though takes advantage of the situation, wraps her arms around the girl's shoulder and holds her tight, and by the blissful smile on her face, which is hidden in the dark, it is painfully obvious she is enjoying it greatly.

Still, as soon as they walk through that kitchen door both girls grimace when the smell from within smacks them right across their faces and punishes their nostrils without any kind of mercy.

"Holy- Yuck! What a horrible smell," comments the tengu while trying to cover her nose with her flashlight hand and failing miserably when the black lighting item smacks her forehead.

Satori's face turns green, and it appears her breakfast is just about to return as she sickly says "we should have expected something like this by now."

The girls manage to aim their flashlight forward and are greeted by a bloody butcher knife with a small, bloodstained maid's dress under its blade, on top of a thick wooden blood-covered table.

The large sink at the back is filled to the top with water, but it looks greenish-brown from the long time of being stagnant, and the pot inside has some sort of burned oval that's grown greenish fungi all over, making it look like some kind of unmoving sea creature.

Soon after, the girls find the source of the powerful smell.

Half of the head of a green giant lizard youkai lies on the ground, rotten to the core with its nose filled with wriggling maggots, its insides spilling into a green puddle on the ground, two of its limbs hang from hooks above a metal counter, and its right leg lies on top of said counter with a large gash going from the thigh down to the claws, from where a bluish-black substance overflows.

Both girls cover their mouths just as their cheeks turn green, and somehow holding her breakfast inside, the disgusted tengu says "alright, let's pretend that isn't there and go into the cellar."

Satori glances up to her friend, and with her hand still on her mouth she asks "you're still thinking of food, even with something chasing us and this **thing** here?"

Aya shrugs, her face returns to normal, then flaps her wings to vent her friend's face while she says "hey, these guys have all sorts of preserved meats stashed down there, and I'm taking as much as I can as payment for solving this incident. And besides, when you get used to this smell, it sort of reminds me of spices."

She takes a step forth, thinks for a moment, then gasps and says "o-oh yes, of course, I will share the food with you! Oh yes, I will share with Satori-chan!"

The well-intended comment causes the satori's stomach to gurgle and almost expel all the food within, but quick thinking from the girl diverts her mind from food, and focuses on flowers, settles her down quickly, and she continues following after her friend.

They reach the cellar and are surprised to see it not only has magical lamps burning brightly within, but the preserved foodstuffs are all intact and begging to be eaten.

Several wine shelves, filled to the top with sake and wine bottles, are neatly lined up in front of each other in two groups of three, and at the end of that tiny corridor are the boxes with the juicy meats inside, which seem to be highlighted by the sausage links that have been hung from the ceiling.

To the left of the small 'meat-room' are small shelves with boxes of tea leaves, a few of them sealed while they wait for their turn to be used, and further ahead, passing by the egg baskets and sealed milk bottles, are the homegrown vegetables, neatly placed in individual baskets and boxes for later consumption.

Having all this food and drinks presented to them, Aya finds herself smacked in the dead-center of the true heaven, and the shaky and queasy Satori finds herself forgetting her upset stomach, drooling and saying to herself "this cellar is more amazing than ours. I'm getting hungry just by staring at the food in here."

The tengu chuckles as she opens a meat container and looks inside, then says "oh yeah, Yuka was here already."

She smiles at her friend and shrugs, then says "well, whatever. We can still take a few other things, and those other boxes appear to be sealed."

The raiding of the cellar takes some time, but the girls both walk up the small wooden stairs back to the kitchen with refreshed smiles on their faces, and now the cellar has a least eight less bottles of sake, several missing lines of sausage links, three missing boxes of preserved meats, and half emptied vegetable baskets.

And so the girls enter the darkness once more, their good cheer is immediately drained away by the nasty smells and blinding obscurity, but they quickly notice new sounds coming from the center of the kitchen.

Snarling, gulping, desperate munching and snorting.

At first they can't make out what they are hearing, but after a few seconds they realize something is having a feast in there, and quickly but nervously, they rummage through their pockets and turn on their flashlights.

The sounds stop and something moves away in the dark kitchen a second before the beams of light cut through the pitch-black darkness.

A cold chill robs the mind-reader of her warm breath the moment her friend starts moving forward, and after grabbing hold of her partner's waist she nervously says "A-A-Aya-ch-chan. S-something is here. L-let's be careful."

This time, even the tengu looks worried as she moves the beam of light around, and then nervously whispers "I'm starting to feel it too. Let's get the heck out of here."

As soon as they enter the kitchen again, they find out the dead lizard's leg on the counter has been eaten down to the deformed undulated bone, and its head on the ground lies half-eaten with both eyes appearing to have been sucked out, the maggots gone, and the disgusting fluids it was spilling have been cleaned off the floor.

As they investigate the disgusting scene before them, Satori begins to shiver and progresses to tremble violently while looking around in the darkness.

"What could have been so disgusting to have eaten this rotting lizard I wonder?" asks Aya as she investigates the half-eaten youkai's head closer.

"Please let's move," desperately whimpers the mind-reader, shaking hard and looking around the darkness, forgetting to aim with her flashlight while saying "don't stop and just move, just-**AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!**"

Before the reporter even has a chance to ask, she is pushed forward by her satori friend, and behind them in the deep darkness she can hear how the counters break and how knives fly all around, and soon after she starts hearing footsteps, even over Komeiji's screaming.

Shameimaru tries to ask what is going on, but the mind-reader continues to scream and cry while running away from the unseen threat, going through the door without crashing and running up the small corridor to the dining room, then reaching the door to the outer corridor leading to the foyer.

Bright fire falls from the ceiling and blocks their path, and now both girls scream as they try hard to stop before getting burned, then turn around and finally gaze upon the unseen attacker.

Zombie Hong Meiling closes her mouth after setting the curtains on fire with her own breath and glares at the girls, placing her top limbs on the ground like a wild animal before hissing softly.

Her dark-brown rotten face looks dry and stiff, her left eye is a glowing scarlet orb, her right white eye floats in the middle of a large hole that's her eye socket, the left side of her rotting face is covered with some black scales, and her beret has been replaced by a pair of blunt brown horns.

Her hair remains full and long, though has lost its sheen, making it look light-orange, her white undershirt is stained with blood, her skirt is torn to shreds, her thick legs, though rotten, still look powerful, her arms have elongated and her fingers are large ivory claws, and she now has a thick and long tail with green skin and pointy crests sticking on the very bone, and moves it around with visible power.

She roars at her fresh meal, revealing a set of sharp and shiny-looking jagged teeth on red gums, and then Aya exclaims "Satori-chan, you were right!"

Satori raises her third eye, feeling a little more confident because of the light of the fire, and with tears still clinging to her eyes, she angrily exclaims "stupid zombie scaring me like that! Let's bring her down!"

The girls prepare their flashing weapons, aware of the yellow LED lights on them, and zombie Meiling roars and spits fire to the ceiling, trying to intimidate her meal into surrender.

* * *

><p>The girls pocket their flashlights and each shoots a beam of light from their weapons, but by the time they realize it, the zombie gate guard is gone.<p>

They look around the flaming dining room for the zombie girl, but can't find a trace of her anywhere, so the anxious purple-haired girl asks "but she was here just now, wasn't she?"

The gatekeeper appears behind them like a blur and swings her new tail at them, hitting them by the side and disappearing in a cloud of smoke once again.

As they forcefully fly to their lefts, zombie Meiling appears just before the curtains with her new claws ready for a quick swipe, but by some stroke of luck the tengu's camera misfires and sends a flash on to the monster's eyes, forcing her to roar furiously and cover herself while thrashing about.

The girls fall on their sides, get on their feet as quickly as they can, and immediately start showering Meiling with flashes and beams.

The zombie girl screeches after the fifth beam hits her flattened chest, then she charges blindly at the attacking girls, hits the reporter on the chest with an open palm, kicks the mind-reader on the stomach, then jumps and kicks both girls on the chin before landing and disappearing again.

By the time they realize they're on the floor again, the zombie gatekeeper is on the move yet again, making no sound as she repositions herself somewhere in the room.

As they get back up, Aya growls and says "this dragon girl is a real pain in the ass. Even when blinded she's still dangerous."

Satori is anxious, obvious when she looks around and growls with every move.

She looks at her partner and commands "we use a spell card to slow her down then take her out! I don't want her coming after us in the dark again!"

Zombie Meiling clings on the ceiling above them, making no noise as she moves around the wooden beams, but by another stroke of luck, the satori youkai looks up and immediately flashes her.

The zombie girl roars and drops from the ceiling, then charges the purple-haired girl with her horns the very second her feet touch the floor, striking the girl on the stomach.

"Satori-chan!" desperately calls the tengu, who takes a spell card on hand and loudly declares "Illusionary Dominance!"

She kicks off the ground and jumps around so fast, a red beam trails after her, and as she moves she says "well, who knew this spell would work this well while grounded!"

The zombie girl starts moving around at an equal speed as the reporter girl, but as such, is finding herself defenseless against the rain of red bullets and constant flashes and beams.

Satori gets off the ground, rubs her aching belly, then finds herself confused when looking at the red beams and black blurs that are Aya and Meiling, and quickly finds herself overwhelmed and unable to tell where to shoot a beam or a flash.

Meanwhile, the speedy tengu reporter continues her assault on the zombie, getting more and more confident after having dodged all kicks, tail and claw swipes, and even managed to blow away the monster's fire breath with her fan.

She notices her friend's confusion and says "you can relax. I got this one cov-**ARGH!**"

Zombie Meiling catches the winged girl off guard and throttles her, and as soon as they hit the floor; the dragon-like zombie on top; she opens her mouth and immediately goes for the bite on the reporter's neck.

Aya screams and calls for her friend's help as she pushes the monster by the shoulders, but her arms tremble as the physically fit gate guard slowly pushes her teeth closer to her target.

"Leave her alone you vile snake," shouts the mind-reading youkai as she run to help her friend.

She throws a kick to the zombie's gut, but ends up groaning out loud and holding her leg while hopping on the other, then grunts "dragon! scales! on stomach!"

The purple-haired girl manages to stop from jumping, summons energy in front of her armored third eye, and with anger present in her voice she says "bite. on to this. you annoying ...**BIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

The intense beam sends the monster screeching and flying backward into her own fire, and then the reporter quickly sits up straight, takes several breaths of relief, then looks with surprise at her partner and says "whoa, Satori-chan, you almost sounded like Hatate for a moment there!"

The satori maiden raises a fist toward the zombie and angrily whines "but she really scared me! And then she tried to eat you! I'm just mad!"

She then looks over to the fire and snarls, raises her third eye, and then says "and she STILL wants more! Aya-chan, hit her hard!"

Zombie Meiling walks out of the fire, bearing a melting wing on the left side of her back, the skin on the right side of her face burns with intensity, even after all the skin and the eye have been burned to ashes, and her entire hair has become a mane of flames.

She lowers her head and roars, aims her burnt horns at Satori, then lunches forward, flapping that new wing for impulse.

Aya intercepts her and kicks her sides, saving her friend from another brutal bash, then looks at the mind-reader's surprised face and says "I learned the way she moves and used the platform on my sandal to hit her, now shoot!"

The girls flash the flaming monster, combining beams with their flash attacks while avoiding the swinging tail and the erratically swung right claw, and finally knock her down after a surprise beam on the face.

Zombie Meiling manages to stand on all fours like a beast, though sways weakly as she tries to maintain her balance, and snarls as she breathes more fire to try and scare the girls away from her.

Her feral expression changes to a pitiable look as she howls sadly while trying to run away, then she finally drops after the nth flash and beam combination, moans weakly, then all the fire on the room and on the monster extinguishes on its own, the melting wing disappearing as well.

After the room become pitch black again, the girls turn their flashlights back on, the mind-reader shoots one more flash out of spite, causing zombie Meiling to grunt one last time, then angrily says "now stay down until we solve this! We are doing this for all of you anyway! I mean, we will all get our homes back, not just Aya-chan and me!"

She looks at her friend and asks "right?"

The tengu reporter sighs and says "come on, let's backtrack a bit. And yes, we are doing this for all, not just ourselves."

There is a loud buzz and the sound of wood breaking to bits coming from the foyer, the girls aim a flashlight at each other to look at their worried faces, then the black-haired girl says "that sounded like a Master Spark."

The satori maiden frowns, then says "it's either Yuka," and her tone lowers ominously as she says "or Marisa."

* * *

><p>Not wanting to risk detection while running through the long corridor, the girls brave the darkness and shut their flashlights off, and then both silently agree on slowing down enough to hide their steps.<p>

They reach the archway to the foyer from memory and remain hiding behind the ornamental columns on the sides, both waiting to hear any kind of noise on the other side, or perhaps feel some sort of movement or presence, but nothing ever happens.

After waiting for long enough, Aya thinks "_Satori-chan, I think the room is empty. I'm gonna turn this thing on, is it alright with you?_"

She can hear when the mind-reader nods rapidly, and then both girls turn their flashlights on simultaneously and aim them toward the foyer, while staying behind the columns.

The first thing they notice is the left half of the stairs has been completely destroyed, and the debris is now blocking the entrance to the basement near the stairs, as well as three other corridors around it.

Other than that, the rest of the foyer remains as it was; empty, dark, derelict, and covered with blood.

The tengu taps her friend on the shoulder, making her twitch and nervously move her flashlight toward her.

When Satori lays her eyes on her partner, she gets the feeling she's looking at a powerful zombie with her friend's body, her skin turned blue and her eyes yellow as she stares straight at the stairs in the foyer.

A cold jolt of fear courses though her heart, but when Aya turns to face the girl, she relaxes when she sees the tengu girl is still alive, and not some horrible zombie, then sighs with great relief.

"What's the matter Satori-chan?" asks the reporter with a curious look on her face, but somehow she realizes she doesn't want to hear it, so instead she shrugs it off and says "well, whatever. Look, let's go up the stairs. I think Yuka wants us to follow."

Komeiji nods, even though she's thinking "_how can she be so sure that's Yuka up there, and not some monster? But wait, how can I be sure **she **isn't a monster? Wait, what the **hell** am I thinking? Oh my goodness! Aya-chan is not a monster, she's my friend! Besides, she and I are... immune._"

Maybe it's this darkness, or perhaps a spell; the mind-reader can't be sure, but even after having defeated the zombie gate guard, she still feels edgy and paranoid, and as they go up the bit of stairs left for them to climb, she wonders how long can she keep sane, or if she'll be any help for her partner if something were to happen.

They continue to the left after climbing the stairs, to the wide corridor in front of the stairs, and are surprised at how neat and clean the walls, ornaments, and the ceiling looks.

It is obvious someone has been keeping this side of the mansion neat, but even with these signs of possible habitants, there is still no sight or sound of any.

Aya starts pointing her flashlight around at the doors on both sides of the corridor and says "hmm, I think these are the guestrooms. They are pretty big, but most were just traps for would-be victims."

Satori keeps aiming her light forward, breathing heavily through her mouth when that paranoid feeling reaches her again.

She feels something is near, but after looking around with her light she realizes there is nothing around, again.

The tengu suddenly walks to the second door to the right and whispers "I think I heard something here. Satori-chan, we should check it out."

The satori maiden shakes her head and frightfully whispers "I don't think we should. It could be a trap, or worse!"

The winged reporter hides her flushed face in the darkness and blocks her own thoughts as she says "y-you can just c-cling on to me again if you like. I just want to check this place out. The cauldron could be hidden in one of these rooms."

The purple-haired girl, regardless of how she feels, still wraps her arms around her friend's waist for safety once more, then nervously says "w-w-well just be careful. I-I think there's something watching us a-again."

Aya raises her camera as she approaches the door and says "alright, I'll be careful," then positions herself and her clinging friend at the side of the door.

She slowly pushes the door, expecting the door to creak loudly and for something to come crawling out of the deep darkness and attack mercilessly, but to her surprise nothing comes, and the door itself opens so silently, it's like she never even turned the knob.

She points her flashlight inside and finds a simple bedroom with a full-sized bed with its sheets stained with drops of blood and a small window behind it, a small drawer cabinet on the side missing its top drawer, and a wall ornament on far left side of the room.

Satori peeks her flashlight beam and her head from the reporter's right, looks inside the dark and cramped room, and then whispers "th-th-this could be a very bad place for an ambush."

"Come on, I saw something shining inside that drawer," whispers the tengu as she walks inside.

Once inside, the satori maiden hears a flutter behind and turns around in a flash but sees absolutely nothing in the area, so she gulps to settle herself once more and keeps her eyes on the corners of the room.

She releases her friend when said winged girl bends down to open the drawer, and after finding out she can't open it with one hand, she hands over her flashlight to the satori and says "please hold this for me. I'm gonna have to heave hard."

The mind-reader reluctantly accepts the second flashlight, takes two steps back, then points both lights toward the small drawer.

Shameimaru pulls the tiny knob with all her might until the wooden drawer cracks and breaks open, but unlike Komeiji's expectations, her friend does not roll backward, but stands her ground after the drawer itself springs free.

"Are you ok?" asks Satori, while the reporter rummages through the drawer.

Aya sighs and says "it's just a stupid note under a golden brooch," waving a piece of paper above her head.

She opens it and discovers it has been written in blood, and with a terrified look on her face, she reads out loud "_behind you,_" then looks at Satori with that frightened face and asks "th-there's a monster behind me isn't there?"

The satori maiden quickly moves the flashlight around but sees nothing, sighs as she relaxes, then says "phew. No, there's nothing."

A series of wet noises suddenly surround her, but before she can react, the mind-reading youkai yelps as something fleshy and round wraps itself around her and pulls her toward the wall ornament, taking both flashlights with her.

There is a loud bang, then a moment of silence before Aya realizes what has happened, and with worry in her voice she calls "Satori? Wh-what happened?"

From behind the left-side wall on the room, Satori desperately calls "**AYAAAAAAA! Help! SOMEONE HELP MEEEEE!**"

The tengu girls panics and jumps on her feet, then desperately calls back "**HOLD ON** **I'M COMING!**" but before she can make her blind run outside, she hears the flutter of wings behind her and a breeze near her ankles.

She freezes in place and looks around, but it's far too dark for her to see anything.

The drawer behind her thumps lightly, then something jumps on the bed, making it squeak a bit, and then silence once more.

She tries feeling around with her hands for any signs of anything moving around the room, but then from the left room the mind-reader cries out loud "**PLEASE! HURRYYYYY! It's everywhere!**" so the reporter forgets the search for the fluttering creature and starts moving around, feeling with her hands for the door.

She finds it quickly and as she walks through she shouts "**don't worry! I'm almost there! Hang in there Satori-chan!**"

Aya makes sure to keep her hands on the wall as she walks through the darkness toward the left room, but as she does she feels something whizzing past her head and hears loud thunks striking the walls, but she doesn't care.

She continues to feel her way through the wall toward the next door, ignoring the many flapping sounds in the darkness, and smiles when she feels the doorknob on her hand.

She turns it, but it just clicks and doesn't budge.

The bird girl can hear her friend crying on the other side, despair immediately takes the best of her, and after banging the door with her fists, she uses her own brute strength, mixed with a gust of wind magically applied to her arms, and she breaks the door open and shouts "**Satori-chan! I'm here!**"

The two flashlights illuminate the seemingly empty room well enough for Aya to see the abomination Satori took out on her own, and the youkai girl shivering on the center of the room and flashing at random as though the creature is still alive.

Said abomination looks like the legs of a giant octopus without the suction cups taking the whole room from the ceiling, where its open beak remains open, secreting a green slime that might be its blood.

The tentacles look shriveled, the open beak remains stationary, and the surprised tengu whistles after looking around the room and says "wow. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it in time Satori-chan, but it looks like you didn't need my- Satori-chan?"

Komeiji remains balled up on the ground, shivering, whimpering and crying softly while still flashing her third eye non-stop, and upon getting closer to her friend, the tengu can hear her whispering "it's coming, it's coming. It's not stopping. Aya-chan, where are you? Aya-chan please!"

The winged girl kneels next to her friend and whispers "poor thing. S-Satori, I'm here. Please, don't freak out on me. Please," then gently wraps her arms around the purple-haired girl while softly saying "you defeated it. It's dead. You did great on your own and you are in one piece."

For a moment it appears the youkai girl has lost all reason, but she stops flashing, wraps her arms around the tengu, sobs once, then cries "I couldn't read its mind, but it was all over me! It was touching me, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it!"

Aya tightens her embrace, loving the fact that she's touching Satori's hair again, but at the same time she remains calm as she attempts to calm her friend.

One of the flashlights roll toward them and stops when pointing at the open door, then the satori maiden gasps, points forward, then whispers "i-it's them! They're here!"

The tengu reporter immediately stands up, grabs her camera and the nearest flashlight, points the beam toward the door, then gasps, and sounding stunned and annoyed she says "oh, shit."

* * *

><p>Outside the room stand several human-child-sized zombie fairy maids, some missing their eyes, others with knives stabbed on their faces or bodies, some with their rotting, fungi-covered bodies exposed, and one particular tall character that remains standing tall behind them.<p>

This one is the size of a human adult with dry grey and shriveled skin and is wearing shriveled fairy maid's heads around her waist, possibly as a new skirt, her panties are stained with blood and some black substance, and her torso is half-covered by a blood-stained maid's outfit.

She has a hole on the left side of her head, missing a large patch of that dry and short grey hair, her right braid is stained with fresh blood, her eyes glow bright red in the dark, she opens her mouth to hiss and exposes her five remaining teeth on her grey gums, but still, zombie Sakuya Izayoi holds her knives and golden pocket watch with the same elegance and style as she used to while alive.

The zombie maid drools as she hisses at the girls and licks her lips with that thick, slimy, brown tongue, and with a hoarse and hissing voice she says "capture delicious meal for Master."

The shaken Komeiji screams "GET AWAY!" while shooting flashes erratically, managing to make the little moaning maids flinch.

Aya clicks her tongue while locking on ten fairies' eyes, and just as she shoots the beams she thinks "_dammit, Satori-chan is too shaken. There's a lot, and Sakuya's here, but I have to protect her! She would do the same for me!_"

Only two of the maids fall from the blast of light to the eyes while the rest merely get pushed back, but they don't fly, and they walk very slowly, giving the tengu girl a good fighting chance.

She grabs her friend, jumps farther inside the room, and then says "just stay behind me. I'll keep you safe."

Satori looks at her friend with a frightened and longing face, and slowly begins to feel as her own fear begins to subside.

The tengu reporter begins shooting flashes and catches the fairies walking through the door, and even though holding the flashlight to do so, she finds herself doing this quite easily.

The fairies take at least three flashes to take out, but the useless zombies keep walking in and getting flashed on the face to the death before they are even inside the room.

The last two fairies, which are slightly larger than the rest and only have their tightened skirts covering them, enter the room while covering their eyes with their forearms, and though affected by the flashes, they still won't fall after the fifth blast.

"Dammit! Got a couple of smartasses here," comments the reporter as she glares at the little monsters entering the room.

Once inside the room, the zombie fairies hiss and run straight at the tengu girl and her partner, but the little idiots uncover their eyes as they reach for the girls' necks.

Shameimaru grins, shoots a single bright flash, then confidently says "as useless as ever these fairy maids," just before the two thuds grace her ears.

From outside the room, zombie Sakuya hisses "ussssselessssss," but remains standing where she is, lifting her rotting left leg elegantly while staring at her watch.

The tengu reporter raises an eyebrow and asks "what's she waiting for anyway?", then wet noises reach her ear.

She doesn't even so much as glance back and picks up Satori, the second flashlight, then runs straight out of the room, jumping over the pile of zombie fairy bodies the very moment the giant beak and two tentacles reach for her and her partner.

The creature screeches happily; even though it missed the living girls, it finds the fairies' bodies and begins collecting them, and after taking them all it closes the door and begins enjoying its hearty meal of rotting corpses.

The winged girl grimaces when the disgusting noises of flesh being devoured reaches her, but when she looks back at her friend she realizes the mind-reader is covering her ears and shutting her eyes, shivering behind her with fright, and her grimace turns into a sad frown.

She gasps when she remembers Sakuya, then grabs her friend again and jumps to the right, avoiding a shower of knives that just happen to appear around them.

The tengu hands the second flashlight to the satori maiden, looks around with her own beam of light, then notices the knives sticking on the wall above her and says "yup, she was trying to hit me in the dark. I got lucky."

The zombie maid stands just where she was before; raising her knives close to her face as though issuing a challenge, then hisses "not bother Master. Kill you."

Aya stands up and immediately flashes the maid, but quickly finds out she's now standing on the left side of the corridor, then clicks her tongue, growls, and says "dammit, she's using Tunnel Effect," then manages to take her fan alongside the flashlight and blows strong gusts of wind all around.

Sounds of metal clanging as it hits the floor is heard several times from all around, and when the sounds stop the tengu reporter ominously says "Satori, I don't think I can protect you and take her on at the same time. Please hold on while I deal with her."

The satori youkai shivers while glancing up with those endearing, but terrified eyes, then nods once, stammers for a bit, then says "pleases be careful."

The tengu smiles and tilts her head, trying to disguise her perverted state, rubs the side of her shivering friend's head, then stands up and turns around, immediately locking a beam on to zombie Sakuya's eyes and moving slowly to the right.

* * *

><p>She swings her fan around and blows away more knives that were just about to close in from all around her, then raises her camera and shoots the beam, catching the zombie maid off guard.<p>

Sakuya appears to teleport away, but Aya manages to predict where she will appear next and shoots a flash, making the maid roar and cover her eyes, then aims the flashlight straight at the monster to lock on as many beams as she can.

She unleashes eight beams, which strike the zombie maid on the head, then chuckles as she swings her fan, sending a powerful gust that pushes the zombie away and says "hey, this isn't as hard as I thought it would be."

Zombie Sakuya lunges at the tengu from the right and tackles her to the ground, then hisses as she attempts to take a bite off the girl's shoulder with those broken teeth of her.

"What the hell is this?" screams the reporter as she pushes the zombie away, and though having pushed her away with ease, she looks around with fright and exclaims "but she was in front of me just now! Where did she come from?"

She moves the flashlight around in a hurry and immediately discovers there are at least four Sakuyas around her, and though she notices the real one looks more solid, the other four still attack as mercilessly.

"Dammit, this is new! What should I do?" asks the reporter as she stares at the real zombie Sakuya, who throws several rusty knives and causes her fairy-head skirt to swing around.

Unable to see the knives clearly, Aya has to drop on the ground and roll away, abruptly changing her direction to avoid a stomp from one copy, then has to stop and sit up to avoid a knife thrust to the forehead by another, and as soon as she stands on her feet, she flashes forward, bends her body to avoid a knife swing from the darkness, then tackles the third copy away and immediately moves her flashlight around.

The wide corridor is empty once again, but the tengu girl is not convinced and points her flashlight all around, as fast as she can, yet still finds nothing.

A second beam of light join's the tengu's, and before she can say anything, Satori stands by her friend's side and says "I-I'm sorry I t-took so long. I'm still a little sh-shaken, but I'll help you!"

Aya sighs with great relief, and then quickly shouts "above!" then she and her partner roll to separate sides to avoid three insane knife showers from zombie Sakuya and her clones.

The satori youkai is the first to aim her light toward the zombies and shoot a powerful flash, and just as they fall, the tengu notices another difference and moves in before the zombies stand up.

She stomps zombie Sakuya's left hand and breaks it off, revealing her Luna Dial on it, then the remaining two clones of her disappear, leaving the weak, knife-wielding human zombie on her own.

The zombie maid hisses as she stands back up, then starts throwing knives at random to keep the tengu away, so the mind-reader takes the chance, gets closer, and right after the maid notices her, she shoots several beams that break through her glowing red eyes, enter through her hissing mouth, then expand within her body, finishing her off rather quickly.

The purple-haired girl takes several deep breaths to settle her rapid-beating heart, and then searches around the corridor for her friend while calling "Aya-chan, we did it! Aya-chan... Where are you?"

"Over here," grunts the reporter, and Satori points her flashlight to the left and finds her friend in a strange predicament.

Sakuya's knives have pinned a few parts of her skirt to the wall, but if the girl moves to help herself, she could get cut by one of many knives stuck on the wall near her.

One near her neck, three more at the back of her neck, one stuck between her gritted teeth, several around her left leg, and two more just between her legs.

Komeiji gasps, rushes to her friend, frightfully calling "ah, don't move! I'm coming! I-I'll pull them off."

She quickly begins by removing the ones between the girl's legs, then drops her flashlight as she hurriedly removes the rest, and as soon as Aya is free she grabs her friend in a tight and happy embrace, coos, and says "I knew you wouldn't leave me on my own! Thank you!"

The chocking satori youkai giggles weakly and pats her crow friend on the head, then grunts "it's ok. I'm sorry I scared you. You're crushing me."

The winged reporter gasps with surprise and releases her friend, grabs her camera and her flashlight from the ground right after the satori girl picks her own, then they hear a bell coming from the end of the corridor.

"**Where is my SECOND DESSERT!?**"

That familiar bratty voice of Remilia scarlet causes the walls to tremble as she demands service, then Aya and Satori share a steeled and resolute stare, nod, then walk over the corridor, headed straight for the door at the very end.

"That's the main hall," whispers Shameimaru as they move toward a wooden door with carved bat motifs around the borders, gold beams that make a cross on the door with leafy shapes at its ends, and elegant regal-red paint coat on the center between the beams.

The mind-reader takes a deep breath, exhales, then glowers at the door and says "alright. That girl is in there, so it's time we deal with her and finish this mess. I don't think my heart can take any more anyway."

And so they move down the once again pitch-black and silent corridor, facing what they believe will be the last battle with the undead.

* * *

><p>The girls reach the doors and slowly pull them open, the hinges complaining with a deep croaking howl, and inside the girls are greeted by a large dimly lit room with torches to the far left and right side, piles of blood-soaked rotting bodies placed to both sides of a large throne with long streams of blood in front, and on that throne, so elegantly placed on top of a small two-steps platform, is the figure of Remilia Scarlet.<p>

Her widened eyes are completely scarlet, her slittled pupils and jagged-toothed grin make her look like some sort of mad cat-like creature, her fangs have grown so long they reach her chin, her hair has grown slightly and has become smoother, her cheeks are surrounded by blackish-brown worms that crawl all the ways down her shoulders, her elongated wings are made from those very same worms which keep wriggling and writhing around, and the flap of skin beneath the wormy frame remain as small as ever, and yet still appear functional.

Her dress is so stained in blood, it now looks brownish-red, her hat is replaced by a simple red pin, her skin is now even paler than ever, exposing all her veins and some muscles to plain sight, and her pair of pink shoes are torn by the pair of long talon-like nails breaking through them.

She continues grinning at her guests, lifts her left hand in an elegant fashion, and with that bratty voice of her, sounding the same as always, she says "welcome, my friends, to your premature deaths. Tell me, would you like something to drink or eat before I rip your flesh and devour your insides while you scream and beg for a quicker death?"

As she makes her offer, the vampire mistress presents a trolley with teacups full of dark and thick blood, a pie with a missing piece, revealing its filling to be made out of minced, uncooked organs topped with dry blood paste, and a single piece of cake that looks green with rot, adorned with fingers, and the icing looks yellowish and poisonous.

The disgusted girls pocket their flashlights, raise their flashing weapons and slowly enter the room, expecting an attack from anywhere, but to their surprise, the mutant vampire just cackles, drinks the blood from the glass cup on her right hand, then asks "no monologue of how deranged I am before attacking me? No well prepared speech of how you're getting your homes back? No threats, no begging me to stop, no **NOTHING**?"

Aya and Satori shoot ten beams each that head straight to Remilia, who remains sitting and grinning, but she jumps at the very last second and throws her glass cup between the girls, and their beams are left to crash against each other and turn to nothing in front of the throne.

"She's faster than before. Stay very alert Satori-chan," says the tengu girl while following the dark red blur moving left and right above the throne with her eyes.

The still-shaken satori youkai nods, and then says "forget the beams then. We'll use flashes only, or we'll never get her."

"Midnight Sign, Bad Lady Scramble," declares the mutant vampire before going to a wall and kicking herself off it, and then twirling toward the girls, who jump away in time to avoid the attack and start flashing the monster.

As soon as she touches the ground, Remilia grins and declares "Midnight King, Dracula Cradle," then launches herself from the ground, surrounded in a scarlet flame, aiming her tackle towards the tengu reporter, who flashes the monster mistress before jumping away from harm.

Remilia continues her charge toward a wall, then kicks off it again and aims her twirling self toward Satori, who jumps back at the very last moment, and though pushed away by the shockwave from the vampire's charge, she still manages to shoot a flash at the monster's face.

Still seemingly unaffected by the attack, the vampire girl surrounds herself with a scarlet flame once more and kicks off the ground toward the satori youkai yet again, who rolls away as the mutant Remilia spins above her, and saving herself from being shred to pieces by the elongated wings, though the carpet is not as fortunate.

Where the purple-haired girl was, now there are six large cut marks that break halfway through the wooden floor, and even from five feet away Aya gasps at the sight and says "those things are solid!"

The vampire mistress kicks off the wall and heads toward the tengu yet again while saying "don't you dare underestimate **ME** you tengu bitch!"

The winged girl yelps when she gets struck by the spinning monster, then screams and gurgles when said monster stabs her sides with her wings and viciously bites the side of her neck, ripping a good chunk of flesh off the girl.

"You psychotic freak, **let her go,**" demands the mind-reader, completely forgetting her own fears and grabbing the mutant vampire by the wings, pulling her off the tengu, then smashing Remilia's face onto a wall before throwing her away and checking up on her friend.

The bite is deep, and youkai or not, immune to the virus or not, Shameimaru's body and wings spasm after the initial shock from the bite leaves her semi-conscious and bleeding on the ground.

Satori gasps, whimpers as she rummages through her pocket, then rolls away to avoid a Spear of the Gungnir a second before impact.

She turns to face the mutant Remilia while sticking her own hand into the storage cube and feels around, and at the same time she keeps her third eye clear while shooting powerful flashes at the Mistress.

Still seemingly unaffected, the vampire grins wide and exclaims "give me back **my prey!** She's mine! I killed her fair and square!" then raises her next spear above her head and aims it at the mind-reading youkai.

The satori maiden shoots a beam at the mutant Remilia, who predictably dodges it by simply zipping slightly to the right, but to her dismay Satori expected this and is already running toward her with a bottle of water on hand.

Before the monster can run away the mind-reader shoots a blinding flash at her, making her scream "**MY EYES!** You little bitch, you burned my **EYES!**"

The purple-haired girl unscrews the bottle cap and splashes the monster, and in that instant a new meaning of pain greets the mistress of the mansion.

She creams louder than she's ever screamed before as her almost transparent skin sizzles and burns away as the holy water cleanses her, then she drops on the floor and rolls around, screaming curses and cusses at her attacker.

Satori snorts, takes a quick sip of water for herself, then runs straight back to her friend, splashes some water on the wound on her neck, then opens her mouth and says "I'm sorry to have to force you, but it's for your own good Aya-chan," while emptying the bottle down the reporter's throat.

The mind-reader suddenly feels refreshed and more composed, then scratches the side of her head while saying to herself "I should have had some of this water from the start."

Aya wakes up, coughing excess water and holding the side of her neck while anxiously asking "wh-what happen to me? Where is Remilia?"

She gets a hug and sigh of relief on the ear as her first answer, then the purple-haired girl says "it's alright. You're ok now. Thank goodness."

The tengu returns the embrace while she slowly remembers what happened before blacking out, then sighs, smiles and says "thank you Satori-chan."

"**YOU BITCH! YOU EARTH-CRAWLING WHORE! I'm going to MAKE! YOU! PAAAAAYYYYY!**" screams the pained and enraged vampire monster as she crawls blindly toward the right-side stream of blood.

"Stop her," exclaims the winged girl, and both her and her friend spring on their feet to stop Remilia, but it's far too late.

As soon as the stream is emptied, the vampire girl stands up straight with both eyes restored, her wings become more solid and the flap of skin grows to match their length, her face becomes feral, a new, longer set of arms grow underneath her normal ones, and her entire skin turns dark brown as her body grows until her bloodstained dress is at the point of breaking.

She laughs as she explores her new limbs and her wings, feels her own skin on her face, then grins and sinisterly whispers "I'll make sure to take you both out at once this time."

* * *

><p>The monster vampire's sudden roar becomes an ear-piercing screech mid-way, and the girls cover their ears tight to save their eardrums from exploding.<p>

Right after the screech is over, Remilia Declares "Scarlet Devil, Scarlet **DEVIL!**" then she takes flights, extends her arms and legs, and a giant flaming red cross spreads all around her, shooting large red orbs in spirals at the same time as the monster moves around.

The girls shoot beams and flashes as desperately fast as they can before they are cornered against the door, then Aya takes her fan, screams as she swings her best possible tornado to try and push Remilia back, then kicks the door open and scream "**MOVE AND SHOOT!**"

They run back through the corridor they were in earlier and are surprised to find the lamps in the mansion are all lit, making their run easier, but with the mistress behind them, shouting "wherever you run, I **WILL FIND YOU AND MAKE YOU PAY!**" the odds still look grim on their side.

As they run to keep away from the burning scarlet cross and dodge those massive red bullets, the girls manage to turn and sneak a flash at the devil vampire, but appear to do very little damage.

"No wonder the LED turned orange! We have to win this somehow or we're as good as dead," comments the satori maiden after mixing her next flash with heart bullets.

"You killed Sakuya?" roars the monster Remilia as she flies over her zombie maid's body, then snarls and shouts "I'm REALLY mad at you now!"

Aya stops six feet away from reaching the stairs, turns around, then swings her fan as rapidly as she can and mixes her attack with several flashes, successfully breaking through the vampire's spell and stopping her advance.

Satori quickly joins her friend and shoots hearts and orbs from either hand while shooting beams and flashes from her third eye, and though the monstrous vampire wants to play the tough monster girl, she begins to whimper when the mixture of attacks starts to burn her skin.

"Keep shooting", shouts the tengu. "Don't let her budge an inch!"

Remilia begins groaning louder and louder, and the moment she realizes she is losing, she roars out loud, spreads her arms and wings, then expels a powerful blast of scarlet flames that cancels her spell, but sends the two girls flying ten feet backward to the foyer.

The tengu reporter immediately stretches her wings and glides toward her friend to spare her a hard fall to the ground floor, and as they slowly descend, the monster vampire furiously declares "**REEEED MAGIIIIIIIC!**"

The girls have to let themselves drop the last three feet and roll on the ground to avoid the sudden burst of blood-red energy and bullets that explode violently upon making contact with anything, then the satori youkai raises her head and gasps with horror when the enraged monster appears in front and reaches for them.

Using her new arms, she grips both girls so tightly by the waist, she cuts their skin and makes them bleed, and before either can flash the monster, she repeatedly punches them on the face or stomach with a fistful of that blood-red energy.

She laughs as the girls grunt with each blow, enjoying the pain she knows she is causing them, then she grips both girls by the necks and sinisterly says "now I'm going to take a bite out of one of you. The other can just watch as your friend suffers. Oh, but don't worry, you'll join her next. **THE GAME IS OVER FOR YOU!**"

She opens her mouth with a smile, glances over each girl, then goes for Satori, who manages to focus her energy and flashes the vampire's eyes with her third eye, using enough power for the flash to blind Aya as well, even though she is at her friend's side.

The monstrous Remilia screams after her eyes explode and the skin on her face begins to sizzle, and she automatically covers herself with one pair of hands while wildly swinging her new, longer arms around.

Though winded as they stay on their feet, Aya and Satori look at each other, nod, then both prepare their beams for one final attack against the mansion's mistress.

The tengu raises a spell card and declares "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash," and the very moment that translucent rectangle touches Remilia, Satori unleashes five concentrated beams and Aya shoots three highly concentrated beams that look like tiny Master Sparks.

The monster vampire screeches as the beams break right through her skin and expand violently inside and around her body, and after the attacks stop, she remains standing where she is, slowly turns her head toward the girls, grins, lifts her original right arm, then drops on her back, stiff and unmoving, next to what little remains of the stairs.

The girls walk close, rubbing their sore faces and stomachs, and flash her once more to make sure she is dead, and stare as the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion lies smiling on the ground, staring eyeless at the ceiling of her frightening home.

Even after her death, the lamps remain on, and after turning her attention away from the vampire, the tengu reporter asks "so where the hell is the cauldron? I haven't seen it anywhere!"

The mind-reading girl takes a deep breath, points toward the now-open door to the basement near the stairs; the debris covering it blasted away by Remilia's bullets; then says "Marisa's and Nitori's memories show the cauldron was inside the library, so maybe it is still there."

They ignore the other six dark corridors around the foyer and both girls now stare upon the dimly lit basement corridor, where only one lamp can be seen in the distance, then both sigh simultaneously when they realize they still have more ways to go.

* * *

><p>They walk down the dimly lit corridor, using only one flashlight, seeing as the very few lamps, though dim, help the youkai girls see just fine.<p>

As they walk through, they notice the walls are all full of burn marks and holes, then Aya comments "so this is where Yuka was," while pointing her flashlight down to the ground.

Satori sighs, scratches her head, and then says "she's efficient, but why not join us in this dark and terrifying place instead of just killing fairies so mercilessly."

They glance once more at the piles and piles of dead zombie fairy maids on either sides of the corridor, and then continue their way to the library, keeping their eyes on those zombies in case one of them is still alive.

They reach the open doorway to the library, the doors long gone from an apparent blast that melted the hinges down to nothing, and notice how an eerie blue light illuminates the room well enough to put away the tengu's flashlight.

As they enter, the reporter whispers "be careful now. Patchouli was a powerful magician, and if she's a zombie, she's probably a strong one."

The mind-reader nods, then whispers "we will deal with her if she comes. Together we can. Now, the cauldron should be at the center of this library."

The winged girl nods once, then they make their way through, admiring how dusty and old the almost empty bookshelves look, and how blood seems to drip off the few books lying on those shelves and those on the floor.

As they get closer, they admire a large blue orb all the way up on the third floor ceiling, which is the source of light in the room, but soon anticipation swells their hearts, filling it with more and more excitement as they get closer to the center of the library completely undisturbed.

The excitement overwhelms Satori when her collected memories tell her they are very near to their goal, so she speeds her walking, gets in front of her partner, and then excitedly says "come on! We're almost there!"

Aya smiles as her own excitement takes over her, then speeds along her friend while saying "after this is over, I'm taking a nice, warm, long bath at home while writing all our experiences on my paper, and then..."

They reach the center of the library and soon their faces turn pale, tears start collecting under their disappointed eyes, and both drop their arms, the tengu even letting her wings sag, when they realize there is no cauldron.

"What the-" begins whispering Shameimaru as she glances all around, and then realizes one detail.

Komeiji sniffles, falls on her knees, and then forces herself to smile as she speaks with a cracking voice "but of course, why didn't I notice? All these memories show clouds coming from that st-stupid cauldron."

Aya gulps as she tries to stop herself from crying, falls on her butt when her trembling legs fail her, then she whimpers "th-that's right. No clouds. The... the damned cauldron. It isn't here! Buh-but where?"

Their disappointing grief is suddenly put to a grinding halt when a spectral white body surrounded by a soft blue light flies from the second floor, holding an open book, then places her index finger on her non-existent lips and shushes the girls.

Patchouli Knowledge has become a specter with a physical body, with her hat taking the same ghastly-white color as her whole body and hair, her eyes look like two round sapphires, and her legs have become a ghostly tail.

The moment the girls lay their eyes on the physical specter, their faces fill with rage as they jump to their feet with their flashing weapons ready, then the winged girl furiously demands "Patchouli, where the HELL is the damned cauldron? **ANSWER ME!**"

The satori maiden shivers with hatred, snarls softly as she prepares her beams in front of her third eye, then angrily speaks through her teeth "this one's mindless! Let's just take her out and BREAK this mansion down! I want Okuu and Orin back! I want my home back and I'm not leaving without answers! Not after all we've been through just to GET here!"

The specter opens her eyes wide, but doesn't even try to defend herself from the countless beams of light flying straight to her face, and just takes them all on, only trying to cover her face the moment those beams expand, then falls dead to the ground, fluttering like a feather in the wind before touching the carpet.

The girls stare at each other in disbelief after the ghostly librarian's quick death, but before they can question their easy victory, they find themselves jumping and dodging lasers and bubbles from the instantly revived Patchouli.

After ducking under a laser and jumping over a small bubble, Satori shoots another flash, killing the ghostly Patchouli, and then exclaims "what the hell was that? We had killed her already!"

Before she gets a reply, she and her friend watch as the white ghost-like body glows for a second, then it's back to life the other, and already shooting them with a mad shower of leaves and flames that rain down from the ceiling.

The mind-reader shoots hearts at the ghost while moving slightly to avoid the mixed magic, then Aya shoots a flash, kills the ghost again, and then shouts "RUN!"

As they run toward what they hope is the exit, the tengu angrily says "there is no damned cauldron here, so there's no reason we should stay! Let's just get the HELL out of here and think!"

The purple-haired girl nods, but when she looks in front, she and her friend skid to a stop to avoid being struck by a set of blue beams that rise from below specter Patchouli, then shouts "this is impossible! She's even faster than the vampire!"

The tengu manages to flash the specter and kill her, yet again, grabs her friend, then runs back to the center of the room while shouting "no use thinking about it! Just flash her and move on!"

Just as they turn around, the girls quickly find out they are now trapped between a narrow corridor of bookshelves, and mercury orbs dancing around water bubbles.

"Dammit, there's just no escape!" shouts Aya as she lifts her camera and kills the specter yet again, only to watch her revive and float back up, then shoot single fast fireballs at the tengu and her friend.

Satori shoots hearts aggressively at the specter-like body of Patchouli and notices they are doing some damage, then desperately shouts "let's try weakening her first before we flash her again!"

The winged girl nods, then yelps and rolls away from a stream of water bullets, takes her fan from her belt, then shoots a ring of red bullets from a single swing at the ghostly magician.

The bullets strike the specter on the right side of the face, and for the first time the ghostly figure moans when one of those bullets hits her eyes.

The mind-reader takes the chance and flashes specter Patchouli, causing her to explode before dropping like a lump on to the floor.

"Is she dead?" asks Komeiji as she takes a step closer, but before she gets her answer, Patchouli springs up to the second floor, stretches her arms beside herself, then screeches hard and loud, making the whole library tremble violently, and causing the books from the third floor to drop from their shelves to the ground.

She raises her white arms above her head and a small sun begins to grow above them, then Shameimaru gasps, her eyes expand, and she shouts "that's Royal Flare!" then takes her friend by the hand and runs.

Patchouli screeches again and the miniature sun grows in size, while the tengu reporter runs with the mind-reader as far as they can, but when she starts feeling the heat of the spell, she dives over to the nearest empty bookshelf, places her partner between one shelf, then she jumps on to another and says "don't move!"

The hot orange flash of light of the spell envelops the whole library, burning any alien items to the library to a crisp, including the bodies of several zombie fairy maids, but the books and bookshelves remain untouched.

Aya and Satori can feel the heat of the miniature sun, but remain undamaged while hiding inside that bookshelf, yet for some reason the tengu girl is getting too anxious, so the mind-reader, having picked up on the foolish move her friend is about to make, shouts "Aya Shameimaru, if you move from there I am going to cut your meals for a day!"

Somehow, this does the trick, and the reporter simply shuts her eyes tight and whimpers while waiting for the spell to end.

"**PATCHOULI KNOWLEDGE,**" snaps a deep and monstrous voice from the floors above. "What do you think you are doing? Stop this right now!"

The spell stops immediately after the voice's commands, but the two girls find themselves frozen in fear inside that bookshelf, feeling a cold mist creeping up their legs, backs and heads, and all they can do is shiver while glancing around with their wide opened eyes.

Something large and heavy lands near them, making a loud boom and causing the ground to shake upon landing, then they hear its loud breaths as it moves.

They can feel a large hand grasp each by the waists, blocking Satori's third eye as well, but they are so frightened they can only whimper as they are pulled out of the safety of the shelves.

They are now being stared at by a massive demonic beast with a deformed dark face, glowing orange eyes, small horns above its brows, long red hair that appears to begin after the face's skin, a pair of broken bat-like wings on its head, another larger pair on its back, it's bulky and muscular body is covered by its shiny slimy skin and a stretched black and white office suit, and its tail has sharp thorns all around it, and a blade-like spade on the tip.

The monstrous Koakuma looks up to the spectral Patchouli and commands "I told you to report ANY intruders to me! You've been a very bad girl Patchouli Knowledge!"

The physical specter slumps and whimpers, then raises its sad face and appears to sing a sad explanation.

The demon snorts, shutting the specter up, then says "no more excuses! I will forgive you this time, but this better not happen again! Now go back to your desk and read more books!"

The specters' eyes fill with glee and she twirls happily in the air, and if she wasn't so terrified, the winged reporter might have found that irresistibly adorable.

Ghostly Patchouli flies away, and as soon as she is back on the second floor balcony, the demonic Koakuma pulls the girls closer to her eyes and furiously says "and **YOU!** I don't know who the hell gave you permission to be here, but that's not important now."

She starts tightening her grip and crushing the girls on her hands while angrily saying "I already caught you, now all that's left is to deal with you and get you out of here, just like I did to that annoying witch that steals the books!"

"We're not here to steal books," desperately grunts Aya, trying to push that large hand open and catch her breath. "We came here t-h, to knock the cauldron."

Satori grunts while trying to free her third eye, but gives up and adds "we want to stop this mah-magical virus so we can get Gensokyo back!"

The monstrous demon laughs hard as though just having heard a funny joke, then stop her laughing and growls as she tightens her grip on the girls and says "that cauldron is no longer here! It has been moved! You only came here to waste my time before dying! I **HATE **it when others waste my time!"

The girls try to scream, but their breaths are cut short when the demonic Koakuma's hands crush their bodies further, then the demon continues "say goodbye to this horrible world girls, and don't worry. Your bodies will not be wasted."

One last crush from the monster's hands, and both girls gag before passing out, and the last thing either girl sees before completely shutting off is their hands dangling close to each other's and being unable to hold on to them.

* * *

><p>It's a foggy, yet sunny morning at the Hakurei Shrine when Aya wakes up and finds herself on her back next to the left-side veranda of the building.<p>

Reimu sits there, as usual, drinking her tea while staring at the trees and few off-season flowers in front of the shrine, then she glances over to the tengu, smiles, waves her hand as she puts the mug of tea beside herself, then says "well, good morning you drunkard bird. Was about time you woke up."

The reporter grunts as she sits up, then notices how the maiden's and her own voices sound like there's an echo, but ignoring this, she smiles, excitement fills her heart, then excitedly says "so it was just a dream. Gensokyo isn't a zombie infested world. What a relief."

Reimu frowns, shakes her head, and then says "I'm sorry, but that's just not true. Shame on you. I thought you were the good and **honest** Shameimaru!"

The tengu can feel her own lips turn to a frown, the bit of sunlight fades and is replaced by a brown sky, and now she feels her heart racing as the world around her crumbles.

She rubs her eyes, unable to believe what she sees, and when she opens them again, the shrine is just a derelict leveled wooden building, and Reimu is a zombie once more.

The zombie maiden jumps on top of the reporter and pushes her against the hard ground, then roars "you're not done! You still have to solve this incident! Now wake up!"

The jagged-toothed mouth of the zombie maiden moves rapidly to her face, then Aya opens her eyes again and finds herself on the unnaturally cold floor in front of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gate, looking up at the unnaturally dark clouds that make everything look like nightfall.

"Finally, you're awake," softly says that deep voice from the large demon, though sounding relieved at the tengu's well being.

The reporter dizzily glances around until her sight comes across the ape-sized demon, then quickly she feels her heart racing to break free from her own chest, and she immediately tries to force her still numb limbs to move as she whimpers with fright.

Koakuma places her massive right hand on the girl as gently as she can and says "shhhh, calm down. You are safe now."

The monster lifts her hand again, then the reporter quickly rummages through her skirt, so the demon raises her left hand, presenting the digital camera on it, and then says "I am sorry, but if we are to have a conversation, I can't have you trying to kill me with this."

"A... Aya-chan?" whispers the familiar voice of Satori as she begins to wake up to the winged girl's right.

Shameimaru quickly finds the strength to get on her knees and gently holds the satori youkai by the shoulders while softly saying "Satori-chan, you're awake! Thank goodness," then turns a glowering face at the demon, takes her fan on hand, and then bravely declares "you will not touch her again!"

Koakuma sighs with both frustration and sadness, then places her hand on her face while shaking it and says "I am sorry I had to do that, but if the new Master knew you're still alive, she would have sent another wave of monsters after you."

While helping the mind-reader to sit up, the winged reporter glowers at the demon and asks "**new** master? What the **FUCK** do you mean by **new** master? I thought Remilia was the godsdamned monsters' master!"

The satori youkai looks around in confusion, looks at her friend, and then asks "what's going on? Didn't we knock that cauldron down?"

"No, it wasn't there," shouts the furious reporter, then tears start flowing down her cheeks when her newfound despair mix with hopelessness, then cries "that shit of a cauldron wasn't in there!"

She raises her fan and aims it at the demonic Koakuma and shouts "**WHERE THE HELL IS IT?**"

The monstrous figure raises her hands defensively, calmly says "please, allow me to explain," then sits down on the ground; the tremor from her body hitting hard against the ground fully wakes the mind-reader up; and the demon continues "it was many days ago. I believe it was just after you escaped from the Hakurei Shrine."

Aya and Satori raise an eyebrow in disbelief, stare at each other for a second, then stare back at Koakuma, who says "oh yes, we all know much about you. And before you ask why is it that some monsters have working minds, while the rest don't, my only guess is that it all depends on the individual."

She lets her large hands fall on her new massive lap, sighs, then says "now listen carefully. You were right, Remilia was the master of us all, but one day three hooded figures came and stormed the mansion, challenged Lady Remilia, and won."

"Any idea who they were?" questions the tengu reporter while shooting a warning glare at the devil.

Koakuma closes her glowing eyes, nods, and says "two of them came out of the main hall without their hoods. One was already infected, and had long black hair, had this big red eye on her chest, and black wings. The other was a cat girl with orange hair. She had a bite on the left cheek, but she looked fine to me. The third one was smaller, but she, or he, had the robe and hood on and I couldn't see who it was."

Satori begins to shiver and sob, her tears quickly reach the ground after rolling down her thighs, then she hugs herself after picking up her legs and cries "th-those are Okuu, and... Orin."

Aya immediately gets closer and embraces her friend; who immediately hugs her back and holds on to cry on her stomach; then the tengu girl sighs and says "so the third one could be Koishi."

The large demon shakes her head and shrugs, then says "the only thing I could tell of the third figure is that it had a huuuge back. Very wide; but seemed to shrink as the robe went down."

Koakuma picks herself up and crosses her arms over her bulky chest, then says "now, about the cauldron. Those three moved it. I overheard them saying they were going to build a castle around it to keep is secure. I also overheard the cat girl saying something about the Nameless Hill."

She looks up to the clouded sky and says "and by the looks of it, it appears that's where you'll find it."

Satori sniffles, getting the large demon's attention, then asks "ho-how can you be so sure?"

The monster girl lifts her right hand and points to the sky, and then says "look at the way the clouds are moving."

Aya flaps her wings once, follows a barely visible trail on the very clouds, then comments "yeah, you're right. It's like their coming from the Nameless Hill."

She punches the ground as hard as she can and shouts "grr, DAMMIT! I should have noticed that, but I was too fixed on this mansion! I'm such an IDIOT!"

"Hang on," says the satori youkai, staring suspiciously at the large devil in front of them, and asks "why are you even helping us? What's it to you? Will you stab our backs the moment we get that cauldron?"

Koakuma groans irritably, then anxiously says "I am a huge ape-like demon who is SUPPOSED to be a girl with her mind still working as it should in a Gensokyo filled with monsters. My voice sounds like a fat boy with a sock on his throat! I hate this. I want to return to normal as soon as I can!"

Now it's the reporter who raises a suspicious look and asks "wait a minute. If this what you say is true, why didn't you knock that shit down when you had it HERE? Furthermore, since you know where it is, **and** you can fly, why the **HELL** do we, flightless girls, have to risk our grounded asses any more than we already have for **your** sake?"

The demon's eyes glow as her irritation escalates, and glaring at the girls, she says "I thought Nitori told you already. Even we with thought capabilities are bound to the Master, whoever it may be! Plus, the new Master has made sure most of us remain guarding one area, and if either of us so even glances beyond that boundary, we explode for eternity, or at least until she thinks we have exploded enough!"

She gets up on her feet, raises her back wings threateningly then adds "furthermore, if anyone, be it Nitori, I, the Lunarian nurse, that psycho bitch Yuka, or even that karakasa gets close to the cauldron, it will take over our minds, and we **WILL** try to take control over it. The only ones immune to that effect are you two and that bitch, Marisa, and I highly doubt **she** will knock her immortality juice to the ground!"

"Then there's that rogue tengu that keeps following you. She keeps ignoring the new Master's orders just to get you, but even she found her end at the hands of Cold Death only thirty minutes ago! I mean, what the hell is the meaning of this?" irritably finishes the large devil monster.

The large demon notices the fright on the two girls' faces, sighs to calm herself down, then softly say "I'm sorry. It's just that, while I'm like this, even though I can think, I can lose my temper quickly."

Koakuma notices Satori staring at her, then sighs again, face palms, and says "you can't read my mind or heart because I have neither, even if I can think on my own."

The satori gasps and flinches, bows, then says "my apologies. I-i-it's just that, well you're one of them and I need to make sure."

The large devil smirks, nods, then says "so you do remember some of Nitori's warnings. Good. They will do you well. Now, while the Master thinks you are dead, you should rest in that hut and not come out until it is daytime again. That way you'll remain out of her notice for at least a day."

"How can you even tell night from day anymore?" asks Aya in an annoyed tone.

The large devil continues grinning and says "even as things are, there is that bit of light that creeps through the clouds. I can see it's very faint now, so I'm sure it's close to being night."

Aya suddenly realizes something, and then asks "w-wait just a moment! Did you just mention a 'karakasa'?"

Koakuma nods, stands up, then says "I did. Though I advice against searching for her. She is strong, and might be hunting for you as we speak."

The tengu and satori nod while in shock, then just stare at the devil monster, who says "also, and this is important, if you meet another specter like Patchouli, you will want to blast her with danmaku before flashing her. Crack her eyes and she'll fall for a day or two."

Koakuma takes off to the air and flies back to the creepy and quiet mansion as she says "I'll **TRY **to convince that Yuka bitch to come out and meet with you in the hut. Oh, and don't worry about the worm. Like me and so many others, it can only move around a certain area."

As soon as she's out of range, she tosses Aya's camera back to the tengu, who catches it quite easily, even though she and her friend remain sitting in place while staring at the huge demon fly over the garden and walk right into the mansion once more.

They remain sitting there for some time, thinking back on the high risks they took to get to the mansion, and the so many things they endured inside that dark and creepy place, then the howling of the night winds snaps them out of their shock, and without saying a word to each other, they get up on their feet and walk over to the hut, hoping to at least see Yuka and tell her what happened.

* * *

><p><em>Day, The night we failed at taking back our home. Right-side bedroom of Yuka's Hut 2<em>

_Aya Shameimaru here with some really depressing news. We went into that fucking mansion, Satori-chan almost lost her mind, I almost lost my whole neck for real, and after all of that, the cauldron wasn't in there. Yes, you read right. It wasn't in there. The fucking thing was NOT IN THERE! Do you have any idea how frustrated I am? BOTH OF US? We are both youkai, we should both have better control of our emotions, but this is too much! I don't care if I'm fucking cursing too much, I am FURIOUS! I am sad. I am... I am losing it! We faced a ninja dragon that was Meiling, we went through a maddening silent darkness where even OUR youkai eyes failed at, we faced a zombie Sakuya, though she was admittedly easy to beat, then we faced Remilia! Oh yes, she WAS the godsdamned master for this WHOLE mockery of a Gensokyo. But not anymore. No, she isn't. She beat me up good, even got my neck! I think I died back there, but thank the GODS I'm a youkai, and that Satori-chan was there! She saved me with a bottle of that divine water. Whatever. The bitchy vampire mutated in mid-fight, got stronger, but being so overconfident, Satori-chan got her good and we beat her. After that, we went down that creepy basement, found out all the missing zombie fairy maids dead there, found the stupid library, and instead of that cauldron, we find MORE monster! Patchouli looked like a ghost with a physical body. HOW RETARDED IS THAT? You're either a ghost or not! How the hell can you be both? Ah, but that's not the good part. The good part is that after she almost owned our asses with all those spells, we found a good hiding place, but this HUGE demon got us! Koakuma has become a huge ape with wings, but it looked like SHE was in control of the library; sent Patchouli off, scolded her, then made her all happy (she looked so cute, but I couldn't even take a picture with that lummox squeezing me so hard), and then she squeezes me and Satori to our deaths. Or at least until we fainted. After that, I had this... odd dream about me being with a normal Reimu, then she turning to a zombie and... it was confusing. Later afterward, I wake up with that Koakuma staring at me. She had my camera, she could have killed me again, but she didn't. Instead, she told me and Satori-chan about these three people that challenged Remilia for the title of MASTER, and how they took the cauldron someplace else! Oh, and by the descriptions given, it appears two of those hooded figures were Satori-chan's pets. She didn't like hearing that. She'll abandon me, I just know it! She doesn't have the heart to kill them... and I sort of understand. Whatever. Now we have to walk ALL the DAMNED WAY to the Nameless Hill, where we will find the stupid cauldron! But it was here before! Why wasn't it here NOW? We could have had Gensokyo back by now! We could!_

As soon as she stops typing, Aya starts punching the air, missing the typewriter by inches, then screams out loud "**IT'S NOT FAIR! It's not-!**"

She drops on her bed and buries her face in her pillow, then starts to cry.

Anger, anxiety, depression, shame; all these emotions keep running through the girl's heart as she lets it all out on the pillow, then she finally screams into it, letting it all out at once, then flops on the bed and starts to breathe hard.

Meanwhile, Satori sits against the right corner of her room, hugging her pillow between herself and her thighs and knees, sobbing while thinking about her pets.

Koakuma's words keep ringing inside her mind, over and over again, and wonders if she will be able to keep her promise to Aya, and fight that last fight over that ridiculous cauldron that keeps eluding them as though it has a will of its own.

Confusion fills her mind as she wonders how far she can go to keep her promise to her friend, but for some reason, thinking about the tengu steels her resolve.

Hours pass and the girls finally calm down enough to meet in the living room, where each holds a cup of green tea as they sit on the small table, and just stare at each others' bloodshot eyes.

Aya stares at nowhere in particular for a moment, drinks a bit of her tea, then gloomily says "we need to, um, find a way to get the hell out of here without getting the ice fairy's attention."

Satori takes a deep breath while she thinks hard, then takes a sip from her cup before exhaling, then hesitantly says "I, er, think we can use the trees for that. We'll find a spot on the ice that's not guarded by that little overpowered bitch, or by her stupid little trophy-pests and make a run for it."

The tengu gulps down the rest of her hot tea, not caring that her whole mouth and throat are stinging with the burning sensation, and then angrily says through her teeth "I'm so angry, and so depressed. It's like even life itself is against us! Why? We didn't do anything wrong!"

A sniffle escapes the winged girl, and her satori partner follows with another sniffle and a tear that plops in her teacup, then cries "I know. And now I find out we will have to face them. Okuu, and Orin. They aren't bad, and yet I now have to unjustly kill them both! It's not fair."

Emotions start to swell up inside both girls, but loud buzzing noises from outside take their full attention.

Looking to blow off some steam, they both jump off their seats with angry looks on their faces, then rush outside to meet whatever may be out there.

The very moment they burst out that door, the tengu girl declares "whatever the hell you are, you picked the wrong time to piss us off!" then the mind-reader declares "I'll take my frustrations out on **you**! I'll shoot and shoot until I hear you BEG!"

Several feet away is Yuka, shooting one Master Spark after another to the air and muttering curses under her breath.

She notices the girls standing in the middle of the small road, and then waves at them, signaling them to get back inside the house, and shouts "hide you idiots! She's going to see you! Oh SHIT!"

Before the girls even have the chance to look around, they come face to face with zombie Yukari Yakumo, who wears her usual mop cap, purple dress and arm gloves, and moves around while inside an open multi-eyed gap with red ribbons on the edges.

What little bits of hair remain on her head flail around like angry snakes, her left eye seems to have been pushed into the socket, her right eye glows yellow, her dry lips are cracked, exposing her rotten gums and small jagged teeth, and what they can see of her dress seems to be stained with blood on the abdomen.

The flower youkai screams "**GET OUT OF THERE! YOU CAN'T WIN! GET BACK IN THE HOUSE, YOU IDIOTS!**"

The girls ignore Yuka's demands and shoot beams and flashes at zombie Yukari, who quickly giggles, gets into her gap and disappears.

The ghastly coos and giggles from the gap monster behind gets their attention and they turn around to fire another volley, but quickly find themselves falling through a gap, and as they fall, they hear Yukari's deceivingly sweet and playful giggles and coos echoing all around them.

* * *

><p>The girls moan as they wake up to the odd faint booming sounds coming from nearby and the feeling of hot stones under their limbs.<p>

Aya quickly raises her head, immediately realizes Yukari is nowhere in sight, but her sight it still too blurry to tell where she is yet.

Satori slowly gets on her knees, moans as she rubs her eyes, and softly asks "what just happen?" then sniffs around, taking a good smell of their new location, and softly says "wait a minute. I... This place smells so familiar."

Then tengu manages to get on to her feet, pockets her camera so she can rub her eyes, then blinks several times as she looks around; the blurriness leaving her sight.

Behind her is a solid stone wall, adorned with what look like dried ornamental vines and dried bluebells.

To their right is large hole, from where the booms keep coming from, and from where a mild sensation of intense heat emanates, and right in front of it are a set of bloodstained chairs around a round glass table with a white frame and legs.

Around them is a whole garden, though most of the bushes and flowerbeds are dead, what few patches of dying grass that remain are stained with blood, and several dried potted plants that hang above the ornamental archways on a porch near the main building.

Ahead of them is a large grey-marble mansion, as large as the Scarlet Devil's, with stained glass windows adorning every area in pairs, a red roof, and a large wooden gate with black ornamental hinges that leads inside.

"Wait a minute," mutters the tengu girl, then she looks up and sees a few of those brown unnatural clouds hovering a few feet below the roof of a massive cave, then the girl gasps and exclaims "oh-no. Satori-chan!"

Satori Komeiji is still on her knees, barely able to contain her silent tears as she stares at Chireiden, her precious home, and as she glances around her dead garden her whimpers start escaping her.

Aya walks over, forces her friend to place her face on her bare shoulder, then gently combs her hair while softly saying "it's alright, I am here with you. It's ok, you don't have to hold it in."

The mind-reader seems to be lost and unaware of the winged reporter's presence, but then she suddenly grips the tengu's arm and whispers "no. This isn't. This can't be. No. NO!"

She looks around and notices all the bloodstains and freshly ripped guts around her garden, the silence that surrounds her, and then she sees a familiar frame looking through one of the top-floor windows, then screams "Ko-Koishi!? KOISHI! **NOOOOOOO!**"

Shameimaru tightens her embrace and sways her friend in an attempt to calm her down, repeating "I am here," and "don't worry, I won't leave you."

Satori screams and cries her sister's name, then the young Komeiji thrusts her bluish-skinned fist through one of the stained glasses on the second floor, giving herself a long bloody cut in the process, and even with her older sister begging her to stay away, she happily and sinisterly hisses "oneeeeee-chaaaaaaaan~ I've been waiting for youuuuuu~!"

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Aya's "Digital Telescoping, Candid Flash" spell card was derived from "Telescoping, Candid Shot"

OCT 12 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so, the adventure is not over just yet. Yukari has made her appearance and has sent the girls to HELL! Literally. Will they eventually get to the Nameless Hill? Will that elusive cauldron stop mocking them? And what about Hatate, huh? Nope. There's no chance in hell I'll leave her frozen in the unseen scenes of this story. Ah well, I hope you are enjoying this story so far.**


	11. Gapped  Underground Run

Gapped by zombie Yukari, the girls now find themselves in Chireiden's derelict back courtyard, trapped between dead plants, large rocks, the hole to old hell, the mansion itself, and zombie Koishi, whom is eager to meet with her big sister and guest.

"Oneeeeee-chaaaaaan~ I've been waiting for youuuuuuu~" hisses the younger Komeiji after breaking her bluish fist through one of the stained glass windows on the second floor, cutting herself deep with one of the shards.

"**Koi-KOISHIII! Don't come here, PLEASE!**" screams Satori while her partner holds her and attempts to comfort her.

Aya tries to force the mind-reader to sink her face on her chest or belly, but the distraught youkai immediately pulls her face away to look to her sister, who keeps hissing "why don't you come here, play? Your sister misses Satori onee-chan."

"**Please, Aya, let me go to her! M-maybe she's alright! She might be on our side!**" begs the desperate purple-haired girl.

The tengu sighs, takes her fan on hand, then quickly strikes her friend on the back of the head with the back of it.

She places her semi-conscious friend on the ground, making sure not to place her near any bloodstains or scattered organs while softly saying "I'm sorry Satori-chan. Just stay here and rest while I deal with this."

The reporter stands up and turns around, tightens her grip on her fan as she takes out her camera and says "it's ok if you never forgive me for doing this Satori, but I can't let you get yourself killed like this."

She looks to the large grey-marble mansion up to the broken window, and it bursts so violently, most shards fly all that way over the girls and down the large booming hole to the pits of old hell.

Zombie Koishi flies out of the mansion; her skin is bluish-grey, her eyes are covered with an orange film, her greenish-grey hair is dry and falling off her, strand by strand, her blue third eye is open but empty and spilling fresh blood, she only has the right yellow sleeve of her shirt and covers her chest with a bloodied bra, her torso and skirt have trails of blood from her victims, and her left calf is full of scratches, where more fresh blood spills.

She spins like a ball in the air, stops in mid-air and smiles at her new victims, and then happily declares "must welcome onee-chan! Symbol, Ancestors Standing Beside Your Bed!"

Massive blue beams fly diagonally from the ground upward beside the reporter, then suddenly turn around to trap the tengu between thick burning beams.

The black-haired crow girl studies the beams' trajectory and moves slightly left, the beams cross right in front of her, miss her by a mere inch, yet she takes the chance and swings her fan, risking her hand getting caught in those beams, and shoots several red bullet rings at the zombie satori.

The beams clear and immediately another set rises from the ground, but Aya takes this chance, locks a few beams of her own on the zombie's eyes, then shoots five flash beams while moving forward after noticing the new blue beams are going to catch her where she stands.

Zombie Koishi yelps after the hit and the tengu grimaces when she's almost sliced in two by the second wave of beams, then screeches when she sees red orbs headed her way.

She walks back and starts taking pictures, clearing a few bullets, then sighs and says "she put the danmaku absorbing feature in this one as well. I love you Nitori."

The zombie satori roars and shoots large red bullets at the tengu girl, then angrily shouts "what gives? You supposed to be dead already, sis!"

Shameimaru moves left, avoiding the insane barrage, moves right between bullets to avoid getting trapped by the smaller ones, and right after the spell ends, the beams star to rise again.

"Enough of this," angrily mutters the black-haired girl, then she takes her fan, swings it hard toward the zombie girl, and showers her will blue and red bullet rings, as well as green shards.

Koishi's spell cancels when she screams after Aya's barrage hits her, then the tengu reporter jumps up to the monster, and then flashes her four times on the face.

The zombie screeches and swings her tiny bloodstained claws around furiously, then drops to the ground, looks up at the gliding tengu and angrily shouts "you are not my sister! You are a TRESPASSER! You must DIE!"

The very second the winged girl places her feet on the ground, she finds herself subconsciously kicking behind her at the snarling zombie, and though by doing so she saves herself from the little monster's rotting teeth, she still gets clawed on her right calf.

Aya screams and groans with pain when those claws cut and slice her skin open, then quickly limps away from her attacker, gasping while shooting flashes behind herself to keep that monster away.

Zombie Koishi stands by the hole to hell with her arms crossed and smiling as she says "a delicious bird. Time to eat."

The tengu girl chokes, blinks while trying to register what has happened, and thinks "_but she was behind me just now. How is she there?_"

"That a good question, stranger," says the smiling zombie satori as she raises a spell card, then adds "oh, you won't kill me. I won't let you."

Shameimaru gasps and shouts "but I thought you couldn't read minds! Satori-chan said you can't!"

Zombie Koishi giggles, slowly takes flight, and says "maybe I can. Maybe I can't. I don't care. You still die!"

Meanwhile the semi-conscious Satori shivers when she tries to move, slightly opens her right eye, then weakly calls "Ko-Koishi-chan. Ay-ya-chan."

* * *

><p>The satori monster jumps high above the tengu's head and lands right in front of her.<p>

Aya shoots her flash and makes her scream out in pain, but when the second flash is shot, zombie Koishi is already standing behind and kicking the winged girl on the right side of the ribs.

The reporter turns around and flashes the little monster again, swings her fan, then gets bitten on the left side of her hip.

She screams and punches the zombie girl between the eyes with her fan hand, then flashes her in the face and kicks the screaming zombie Komeiji away from her.

Aya holds her bite wound and demands "how are you doing that? I never knew you could teleport around like that!"

Zombie Koishi giggles and starts walking forward while saying "it's fun playing with subconscious and be able to read minds at the same time. It's fucking awesome!"

She's now behind the black-haired girl and continues "you love onee-chan too. Animals always love onee-chan."

When the tengu turns around the zombie girl appears to her immediate left, stabs her claws behind her neck and making the girl gasp, then whispers "I kill you. Make onee-chan cry. I kill onee-chan. She loves me again!"

Shameimaru summons the strength to throw an elbow to the zombie's face, breaking her right eye and adding a blood waterfall on her face that comes from the socket where the eye used to be, and while she writhes around and roars, the reporter flashes her several times.

She immediately locks on as many beams as she can and fires before the little monster disappears again.

The beams turn left and go upward, but the zombie is now gone, and from above the reporter she raises her spell card and declares "Memory, DNA's Flaw!"

An entwining pair of heart streams; one rose, the other blue; twist between each other as they head straight for the intruding tengu.

Aya manages to get between the twisting streams and takes a shot at zombie Koishi again, making her cry out as her spell becomes faster and more violent and shoots green shard bullets after the streams touch a wall or the ground.

The reporter takes another shot and quickly discovers the zombie satori is not there, then swings her fan around her, causing wind to spin around her body like a blade.

From behind, Koishi cries when the wind blades cut her nose and her spell cancels, then Aya raises a spell card and declares "Tornado, Indication to the Divine!"

She swings her fan around herself and a giant tornado forma around her.

Zombie Koishi gasps and tries to fly away, but the strong winds suck her in and she creams as the wind itself cuts her bluish skin like it was made of swords and knives.

The winged reporter keeps swinging her fan, shooting orbs and shards while increasing the speed of the tornado and the zombie roars and hisses as the winds cut her skin and the bullets explode all over her.

Her still fresh blood spills all over the ground, the mansion's walls, the stone walls, and even next to Satori herself, who moans as she slowly recovers her full consciousness.

She opens her eyes and gasps, tears start rolling down her eyes and weakly calls "no. Stop, please. Aya-chan, Koishi imotou-chan," then a long and sturdy glass shard from the broken stained glass window falls next to her, and the girl stares for a moment before slowly reaching for it.

Aya's spell times out and the zombie satori youkai falls to the ground, grunting on impact, then the tengu girl quickly runs to her and starts shooting flashes as though desperate to finish the fight.

After the tenth flash, Koishi disappears again, though this time Shameimaru looks around herself in case of any sudden attacks from the back.

She sighs with some relief when she fails to find the zombie, then gasps with fright and jumps away, then the zombie girl dives from above and blasts a crater on the ground with her own fist, right where the black-haired girl stood.

Aya is about to shoot another flash when the zombie girl grabs her arms from behind and furiously says "you bitch! That made me hurt! I make **you** hurt as well!"

Before the tengu girl can learn what the monster is planning, she chokes on herself after she gasps upon getting a knee to the spine.

Zombie Koishi squeezes her wrists and forces the girl to drop her fan and camera, then takes a bite from her left shoulder, making the tengu cry out in pain, and then throws her straight at the mansion's wall.

The reporter is flattened face-first against the wall, but before she can even think of having a moment to recover, the monster girl rushes her, smashes her shoulder against the tengu's back, then jumps back, grabs the living girl by the leg, then takes a vicious bite out of her calf.

Aya screams out loud and writhes around in hopes of getting released, but feels when those jagged teeth start reaching her bones and despair takes her.

She twists in the air, causing those teeth to cut her skin deeper, but managing a solid kick on Koishi's temple and succeeding in freeing herself and falling on the porch.

Once on the wooden floor, even with the horrible pain coursing through her body while her shoulder and calf heal, she crawls away from the porch as fast as she can, but doesn't get too far.

The tengu girl starts to hyperventilate when Zombie Koishi grabs her by the wings and lifts her up, then desperately shouts "let me go! Let! me! go! you little monster!"

The zombie giggles, says "that's the plan," then throws the reporter on her back as hard as she can against a rock between the porch and the hole to hell.

The girl bounces hard against the rock and falls on her back, then moans as the world around her spins without stop, and starts breathing fast as her fear escalates when she feels the cold hands of the zombie satori on her legs.

The monster girl gets her bloodied face up to Aya's sight, smiles at the weakened and dazed tengu, then a set of fangs appear on her open empty third eye, she opens her mouth, and then throws herself at her meal.

The girls fight against each others' strength as the zombie Komeiji pushes down to take a bite off her meal's face, while the tengu girl grunts hard as she pushes the undead monster away by the shoulders.

The third eye silently moves closer to the tengu, snarls, then bites her left breast hard, making the girl gasp and clench the zombie's shoulders harder.

Zombie Koishi giggles and says "this will make it harder, but more interesting," then looks up, smiles and says "ah, onee-chan! Come! Stab her heart while my eye keeps her still."

Satori limps slowly toward the girls, wrapping her left arm around her pained chest, her silent tears blind her to what's happening in front of her, yet she knows what is going on.

She rubs her eyes with her arm and looks down at the decaying, bloodied smiling face of her zombie sister, edging her to stab that glass shard on the well-endowed tengu's chest.

She looks at the scared and pleading eyes of her paralyzed friend, starts to sob, and then cries "I'm so sorry!"

She raises he shard, and even paralyzed Aya somehow manages to scream with fright, then the sound of breaking flesh and the splashing of blood echoes through the garden.

The hole to hell booms and flashes once, twice, thrice, and just like that, the whole garden is silent, though just for a few second.

Satori cries inconsolably, kneeling on the ground with a dark frame on her lap.

Her face and shirt are covered in fresh blood, her right hand bleeds from the cut she got from the same shard she just used, but she cannot feel the pain from her hand because of the terrible pain that currently comes from her heart.

* * *

><p><em>DAY OOXO Chireiden, In my kitchen._

_This is Satori, and I have done something so unspeakably horrible today. I... killed her. She was precious to me, and these hands, WITH MY OWN HANDS, I killed her! To think this all happened because of that failure at the Scarlet's Mansion. We went in there, and from the moment I placed my foot on that moving ground at that garden, I knew there was something wrong. I should have said so, save myself from getting scared half to death by that dragon girl in the dark, or having to come face to face with those tentacles. That thing just got me and tried to eat me with that beak. Its disgusting slimy tentacles had all the room and I couldn't read its mind, and it hurt me, but I couldn't fight back. It was squeezing me with those disgusting tentacles all the time! I flashed and flashed and flashed, I called for Aya-chan, I needed help! It was touching me everywhere and I couldn't even defend myself. I... I don't know how, but I survived, and Aya-chan came, but she was LATE! I was so scared and she didn't come! But I know she tried! I can't be so selfish! It was dark, so that's why it took her so long. She then fought that maid and tried to keep her away from me, but in the end I had to help her a little. Then there was Remilia. That brat, how annoying she is, even as a mutated monster. I took care of her though. Oh yeah, and then we went to the library, fought a ghost with a physical body and sapphire eyes, FAILED to find the cauldron that wasn't there, got squeezed by a giant demon, who turned out to be an ally, and then, after our spirits got broken and before we could rest, yet ANOTHER thing happens. We run out of the hut when we hear buzzes outside, and then we find Yuka fighting with the gap youkai; of all the monsters to come across, the GAP YOUKAI! Well, she spots us, opens a gap under out feet, quite predictably actually, and then... Of all the places to send us, we land right in my backyard. It hurts to see my home like this. My pets are nowhere in sight and all I have seen are blood stains and guts so far. And then, what I feared the most, I saw Koishi-chan as a monster. I begged her. I begged her to leave us alone and she still attacked, and I didn't know what to do! I couldn't hurt my little sister like that! I don't care if she's a zombie, I can't! Aya-chan knew this. She also knew I'd stop her from trying to kill Koishi-chan... and then she got hurt, and scared! I couldn't take it! I couldn't take it, so I had to do it! I killed her and saved her! My heart is in so much pain right now, but I had no choice. If I didn't do it, she would have killed her. She would-_

Satori stops writing on her notepad and starts to cry, pressing her hand against her burning bloodshot eyes as though trying to stop the tears.

She sits in front of her square dinner table, which is covered with a pastel light-blue sheet, with Aya's camera and fan to the left of her notepad.

The floor around her has been adorned with a dark-blue carpet with entwining golden vines on the borders, the kitchen to the left has its grey tiles bare, the light-blue counters are stained with dry blood, and the pantry to the right has been destroyed, leaving the silverware, cups and plates littered and broken all over the floor, though some are still in once piece.

She clenches the shirt over her chest, sobs out loud, then drops herself on her dinner table and lets herself go.

She cries and cries; slowly sliding off the side of the table, then Aya rushes from the kitchen, grabs the satori before she falls, then whispers "I'm so sorry."

She has been apologizing over and over, and still feels it's not enough.

Because of her inability to take care of herself from zombie Koishi, Satori had to finish her own sister off.

A tear runs down The tengu's cheek as she remembers how her friend stabbed her own sister on the chest several times; how the mind-reader cut that third eye off her own sibling so that it would release her partner and let her move, and how that same mind-reader flashed her little sister three times until she finally dropped dead.

Shameimaru silently cleans the blood off her crying friend's body with a damp cloth and is doing what she can to clean her shirt.

The crying face of her friend suddenly overwhelms her, tears start to roll down her face, and before she realizes that, she sobs once and sadly says "I'm so sorry. I failed you and you ended up doing that. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you from this!"

The tengu girl kneels on the ground and there they both remain, one crying inconsolably because of her sister, the other feeling depressed for her uselessness, and both cursing that Yukari Yakumo inside their minds for placing them in this predicament.

* * *

><p>After some hours, Aya is the first one to wake up, still holding Satori in her arms on the floor of the dining room, covered with the brown sheet from one of their futons and completely unaware of the current time.<p>

She looks at her partner's sleeping face, hoping to see a peaceful girl, but instead she sees a broken elder sister who seems unable to find rest, even in her dreams.

The crow could fantasize something with herself and her friend, so close together under a same cover, but seeing that face saps her from anything that might lead to any happy thoughts.

"Hey. Satori-chan. Wake up," whispers the tengu girl, desperate to free her friend from the clutches of the nightmares she's probably having.

The mind-reader clenches her eyes tight and moans weakly as she begins to wake up, opens her eyes just barely, though enough for the reporter to see the emptiness in them, and weakly says "Aya-chan. Get me out of here. Please?"

She isn't exactly sure what just came over her, but the look on the satori youkai, and the way she's talking like there is no will in her ignites the winged girl's spirit.

Her eyes intensify, that sadness she was feeling just now vanishes, leaving room for steeled determination to take over her.

She lifts herself and her friend off the ground, wraps the sheet around the purple-haired girl like a cloak, sits her on the nearest chair, then makes sure she's making eye contact before saying "alright, we'll go straight to the exit then, but I don't know this place, so I need you to guide me all the way. Can you do that?"

Satori nods, lifts her shivering left arm to touch her friend's cheek, then smiles and weakly says "you are such a good girl Aya-chan. Now please let's get out of here, as far away from Koishi and the underground as we can."

Shameimaru nods, grabs the mind-reader by the waist, wraps her friend's arm around her neck, and then quickly faces the white door in front of the table.

She takes her fan and secures it, then takes her camera on hand and as she hurries to the door she says "you leave the undead to me. If you feel you have to, hide and wait for me to clear the room."

The weak girl nods, unwraps her arm from her friend's neck to stay in the kitchen, the tengu opens the door, roaring furiously, then looks around the large and empty hallway and says "oh. There's nobody here."

And so, the walk down the hallway toward the exit of the mansion is uneventful, and although the silence in this mansion is as deep as in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, there is great comfort for both girls as the lights shine brightly within.

There are no weak oil lamps, but strong bulbs Aya thought were danmaku bullets placed on platforms on the walls, and these shine brightly enough to show off the black and white checkered tiles, the ornamental white columns, and the paintings and portraits on the elegant walls flawlessly.

The light from outside the mansion also adds the comfort of visibility, though for the tengu, the light that enters through the stained glass is a little unnerving.

Once she's gotten used to those images shining on the floor, she speeds up her pace while holding Satori by the waist and wrapping that arm of the mind reader around her neck.

They finally reach three doors in a small corridor; one directly in front which continues forward, one that turns left down a small corridor, and the other goes up some carpeted steps to the right.

"So, which door Satori-chan?" asks the reporter while looking around at each door with curiosity.

The broken-hearted youkai lifts her right arm and points to the left, then weakly says "next corridors; straight to the exit."

The black-haired girl turns, but stops and smiles when an idea hits her, and asks "say, which door we should have to take to reach your room?"

Without question, the satori points right, then Aya smiles and says "well, how about we go there and get you some fresh clothes. That should cheer you up."

The broken youkai gets a sudden surge of energy, cries "no-no, no, no, **no!**" pushes herself away from her partner and falls on the floor, where she hyperventilates while kicking herself toward the left door while crying "no, no! Don't go! Not there!"

Shameimaru raises her hands defensively and slowly gets closer to the frightened girl while shushing her softly, and when she gets close enough she softly asks "it's ok, we won't go there, but why are you so scared? What's in there?"

The cloaked girl takes several deep breaths to calm herself down, then nervously says "main hall! Ko-Koishi traps my pets in there! For fun. J-just innocent fun."

The winged girl looks to the door with curiosity and asks "are you sure?" starts walking toward it, and then adds "it's awfully quiet in there."

The old and sturdy wooden door has an old golden knob with a large old-fashioned keyhole, large enough to let the curious crow girl look inside, and with a smile on her face she leans closer and says "I'll just take a peek and see if there's anything. Who knows, maybe there's nothing and we can get you some nice fresh clothes."

She peeks inside through the keyhole and sees a large two-floors hall with white marble rails on the second floor balcony, a regal red carpet that covers the balcony floors and the stairs, the room seems to be oval, and what little can be seen of the bottom floor is the bookshelves in there, a red couch and the black and white checkered floors.

She smiles after looking around the large, silent room for long enough and says "see, there's nothing in here."

Something large and red smashes against the door and soon after several barks, roars from cats, and angry tweets and clacks from birds are heard coming from the other side, startling the crow tengu to a yelp and making her jump away.

Claws start pounding hard against the door, threatening to break it down; blood spills from underneath it and flies right out of the keyhole.

Satori curls up into a ball and covers her ears with her hands as tightly as she can and starts to scream and cry in an attempt to drown out her pets' deathly noises, and Aya finds herself running back to her friend and trying to pick her up to get the heck out of there, but the satori youkai is far too upset and fights back, throwing random punches and kicks to keep the tengu away.

The door to the main hall stops banging and the undead animals quiet down, and slowly the hooded girl begins to calm down, her cries and screams slowly winding down when the silence reigns her mansion once more.

The tengu reporter sighs after her friend calms down, places a hand on that soft purple hair, and then softly says "I'm sorry, I just wanted to help."

The upset girl grabs her friend's hand and places it on her own cheek, helping herself calm down, and when her mind allows her to form words she nervously says "it's ok. Good intentions! L-let's go!"

Again, the black-winged girl places her arm around her friend's hip, wraps her friend's arm around her neck, pulls her up, and without saying another word they take the door to the left.

* * *

><p>Their footsteps echo all over the large brown and black checker-tiled corridor, which is illuminated solely by the stained glass windows on the side, and although darker than the corridors before, there is still enough light to allow great visibility.<p>

Aya is a bit spooked by the dark corridor; how their echoing steps make it seem like someone is following them all the time when there's nothing there, and how the light from the stained glass glows so eerily on the floor.

She looks to her hooded friend and notices how her head bobbles around while they walk, and panics.

Her heart races as a bone-chilling feeling of dread takes her when the thought of her friend being dead or dying takes her, then she quickly takes the satori's hood off as she nervously asks "Satori? Satori-chan, are you alright?"

Relief quickly fills her when she sees Komeiji's eyes are still open, but now she's filled with a bit more urgency when she sees those broken eyes staring down to the ground as their owner whispers "almost out. Get me out."

The tengu sighs, pulls the hood back over her friend's head, and then whispers to herself "this silence is getting to me. Maybe I should sing something. Might cheer both of us up, but it might also attract monsters."

Again, that infernal silence takes over as soon as she stops whispering.

She can feel how it fills her head and slowly drive her to mad thoughts, and no matter how hard she fights it, the silence finds other ways to attack her, going as low as taking her heart.

Before she knows it, she begins humming a happy, quick paced song, her own walking speed matches her song, and just as she recovers her mind she thinks "_I'll hum it. Wind God Girl. I always loved that song._"

She continues humming the song and it seems to take over the corridor while Aya herself starts feeling in much higher spirits and begins to smile.

Her humming becomes a little louder, and now the walls of the mansion begin to vibrate with life once more, taking away that unwelcoming feeling the endless silence places on any territory it takes.

The songs starts getting into Satori's ears, getting her attention and filling her head, taking away the maddening silence that had settled within.

She slowly raises her head to look to her friend, and a very weak smile stretches her lips.

Soon after, she starts feeling strength returning to her limbs, and thus helps herself to walk so as not to be such a burden to the tengu.

The song quickly starts filling her heart, then spreads all over her body, warming her limbs, and then somehow works its way into the youkai girl's very spirit.

Satori closes her eyes and her smile becomes stronger when she starts hearing Aya's song playing in her own head along with other instruments and even a small chorus singing along.

She feels when her friend grips her tighter and their pace quickens to a run, so she smiles wider and helps her winged partner run.

She notices how their steps match the music playing loudly in her head, and just as her excitement rises, she feels as they jump at the rhythm of the song.

Lights start flashing around her, adding color to the concert being played inside her mind, and she chuckles.

She opens her eyes and sees they are headed straight toward a large pair of dark-brown double-doors adorned with square undulations and a pair of glass doorknobs on a golden base.

The mind-reader points forward and happily exclaims "there! It's the exit! We're almost there!"

She can feel their pace quicken and closes her eyes once more, then feels how they twirl in the air, dancing to the song filling her mansion with vibrant life once more.

The satori sighs happily as she feels as though she's flying in mid-air, twirling and kicking herself from the roof for fun, and just as the song ends, everything stops.

She finds herself lying on her back in front of Chireiden, staring at the brown clouds covering the stone that makes the cave's ceiling, and then looks at the sweaty face of her panting friend and smiles.

Aya breaks a smile immediately, and between pants she says "we. did it. Satori-chan! We're. outside!"

The purple-haired girl springs up and catches her friend in a hug, gives her a kiss on the cheeks, then excitedly says "thank you Aya-chan! Thank you so much."

She loosens her embrace and pushes herself away from the reporter to look at her in the eyes, then says "carrying me all the way out here must have been so troublesome. Oh, but that song. It was amazing! It cheered me up so much. You even filled the Palace with life again! Thank you so much for everything!"

The tengu girl chuckles bashfully, rubs the back of her head while blushing, then says "aww, it was nothing. I'm so glad that you are feeling better though."

Satori giggles and smiles gleefully, closing her eyes as she does so and adding more red to the winged girl's blushing face, then releases her friend and says "and for a moment there it seemed you were dancing? Did the song fill you up too?"

Aya's blushing face becomes pale as she chuckles nervously, and after hesitating for a while she says "um, yeah, something like that."

She is grateful her partner is still unable to read her mind, or she might depress herself with the memories inside the black-haired girl's heart.

Shameimaru stands up, gives her hand to her mind-reading friend, and asks "still need my help? I don't mind."

Komeiji chuckles, accepts the offered hand, and once on her own feet she says "yes, I might need some help still, but thanks to you I think I can manage on my own for a bit."

The tengu grins, rubs the skin under her nose with her thumb, and with her left hand on her waist she says "alright then. But remember, if something bothers you, you let me know immediately so I can deal with it."

She looks around herself, and other than a few dead rose bushes to the front and the side of the mansion's ground, there's nothing else of interest other than rocks, rock formations, and more rocks.

The road before them, though branching off to several other directions, leads straight to the city, yet unsure of what path should they take, the reporter asks "so, any shortcuts around here that might lead us to the surface?"

The mind-reader shakes her head and says "we can't fly, so our best bet would be to go through the city. And yes, it is going to be dangerous. It's full of oni."

A powerful jolt of fear courses to through the tengu's whole body at the mentioning of the oni, but she steels herself and hides her fear as she faces the lit stone and wooden buildings, then says "alright then. Um, but are you... sure there's no other way?"

Again, the purple-haired mind-reader shakes her head, then says "there's an elevator built by the oni that should take us up to the surface, and the only way to reach it is through the bridge at the other side of the city. I'm sorry, but it's the only way."

The tengu girl covers her eyes with her hand as though in deep thought, though her friend can't really pick up anything yet, even now that she's calm enough to read hearts.

Aya suddenly raises her arm and points at the city, then declares "then will go through the Ancient City, take down anyone that gets on our way, then head back to the surface so that we can pick out our quest right where we left it off!"

Satori raises an eyebrow and asks "quest?" but she's quickly gripped around the shoulder by her friend and dragged along, while the fake-happy tengu girl says "come on, let's get moving then."

Meanwhile, inside Chireiden's entrance hallway is the sight of a small and bloody battlefield, where the tengu girl's footprints have been left on the walls, some pillars, and even on the roof.

On the floor there lie the bodies of three dogs; one bulldog with its stomach and left side of its face missing a large chunk of skin and bleeding through them without stop, and two mixed breed dogs with razor-sharp saber teeth whom are missing their eyes and fur, plus some patches of skin around their bodies.

To their left are two black cats whom have crashed against the walls and splattered into several parts on the floor, where their blood and guts make up one nasty looking spilled soup, and three parrots, all missing their feathers, the hook bills replaced by razor sharp blade-like bones, and smashed into puddles of blood on the floor where they crashed after killed.

* * *

><p>On their way to the Ancient City, the girls find themselves being chased around by evil spirits, which have grown the size of an adult human and have taken an eerie green color.<p>

They make a disturbing sound as though that of clacking bones, but it comes from their mouths as if they were laughing as a form of communication.

"Three left," calls Aya after flashing one of the spirits into a cloud and making sure her still hooded friend is still running alongside her.

Satori jumps and twirls once in the air so she's facing the spirits, flashes them to their wispy deaths, then the surprised tengu slowly stops her running, shocked and surprised at her friend.

With her mouth wide open, she walks over to the purple-haired girl and exclaims "well, seems you made a full recovery," then smiles and adds "I'm glad."

The mind-reader smiles at her friend and happily says "oh, I still want to get out of here as fast as we can. My heart is still beating rather painfully," then her voice turns dark and cold, her eyes become ominous, and with that smile on her face she says "it's just that those asshole spirits and their disgusting thoughts overwhelm my own despair and fills me with a desire to murder."

The winged reporter is frightened out of her wits, and now finds herself sorry for commenting, but her fright is quickly put to ease when the satori youkai smiles in her usual manner and says "but that song of yours, it's still playing in my head, so it's helping me stay focused. Thank you."

A nervous chuckle escapes Shameimaru, and all she can think of saying is a shaky "you're welcome."

The girls slowly realize they are at the very entrance of the city, but it's so quiet and empty, they thought they were still on the road there.

They look around at the silent houses with lit lamps within, the blood splattered on the dusty ground and on the walls, one particular wooden house to their left vandalized and adorned with something dark and long inside that hangs from the ceiling; though they aren't interested in finding out what it is; and even though it's so eerie and quiet, they can't help but notice how well lit the whole place is.

"We're here," whispers Aya as she looks around with her camera ready for anything, and then she notices the terrified look on her friend's blue face.

Satori shivers in place, hugging herself under the make-shift hooded robe, and gasps but quickly chokes on her own throat when she feels an arm going around her hip.

Her tengu friend has secured her once more, but before either has the chance to comment, they notice a small child in front of them.

The reporter yelps with fright as she hops back when she notices the two large horns on either side of the child's head, and after stammering like a broken record for a few seconds, she finally manages to say "Su-Su-Suika. O-o-oni!"

Zombie Suika Ibuki's skin is completely white and stretched downward due to gravity's pull, but it is still in one piece, her hair looks thin and dull orange, her horns have grown larger and have some small branches growing on the tips, her open broken shirt hangs over her bloodstained purple skirt, her eyes are red and from them drips an acid-like substance as though she were crying, and from her blackened rotten-toothed mouth oozes a thick semi-liquid substance that dangles on her chin a whole minute before dripping to the ground.

She stares at the living girls for some time then starts to breathe through her mouth, making a disturbing gurgle with every breath taken and expelled.

After some time, the two girls settle down a bit, yet keep themselves alert for anything that might, and they are sure **will** happen.

The little oni lowers her head, hunches her back, raises her arms, a set of yellow fangs grow from those black gums, then she roars loudly enough for her voice to echo all over the city.

Aya tightens her grip on Satori, shoots a blindingly bright flash at zombie Suika's face, causing her to moan and cover her eyes with her arms, then takes off toward the nearest wooden building and jumps on top of it.

The next stone building is close, and it is long and spacious for a good distance-run, so she jumps for it and says "I'm going to try to lose her! Afterwards we can use these buildings to sneak by!"

While she says that, she desperately thinks "_oni! Why oni? Of all the creatures out there, an immortal oni zombie must be the WORST!_"

She can hear crashing and crumbling from behind, and upon looking back she can see the building from before collapsing to the ground as the little zombie oni runs through it while chasing her prey.

Aya's face turns blue at the sight, her terror evident even as she turns around and resumes her run.

Zombie Suika roars a little softer as she breaks through the wall of the longer building, then Satori manages to ask between nervous pants "why. is she. not jumping?"

The tengu lifts her friend and carries her princess style before reaching the edge of the building, shouts "maybe she likes breaking things! She's an oni!" then jumps as hard as she can as soon as she reaches that edge and glides toward the closest building, which is a two story shop with a red roof.

Thanks to those short wings they manage to reach the second story of the building, Shameimaru places Komeiji back on her feet, though keeps holding her securely, and as they run toward the next edge she says "the floor is rising, and the next building is very high. Satori-chan, I'll need your help."

The mind-reader studies the terrain and notices that indeed the terrain is rising as they go further into the city, and the next building looks to be a small apartment of three floors.

Behind them, the zombie oni breaks out of the long building and starts looking and sniffing around for the girls, but can't seem to find their trace.

The satori youkai nods, starts running along the tengu, and as they reach the edge the reporter says "alright, ready? One, two, **THREE!**"

The mind-reader looks at her partner's feet and matches her steps in order to strengthen the jump, and they kick off that roof so perfectly synchronized that for a moment they believe they are actually flying again, though gravity takes effect quickly and they begin their descent.

They land on the very edge of the roof of the tall building and Aya has to lean forward so they don't fall back, and as soon as they are stable again, she grabs Satori princess style again and says "come on, we'll keep roof-hopping until we reach the bridge!"

She continues her run toward the center of the underground city, ignoring the fact that zombie Suika has completely lost their track and is trashing the long blue-roofed building where she lost track of them out of frustration.

The little zombie pierces her fingers through the stone wall of that building, pulls a large chunk of it right out with ease, takes a bite off it, then spits the rubble and furiously roars to the air, frustration evident in the overwhelming vibration of her voice.

* * *

><p>While jumping from building to building with her friend on her arms, the tengu reporter admires how each house or store are built differently, but still look the same in architectural design.<p>

Cobblestone, marble, white rocks, wood, and even some are made of cement, but one thing that makes each of these sturdy buildings stand out is that they are all made by the oni, unlike the buildings from before.

As they reach the center of the eerily silent Ancient City, Aya whispers "and here I was worried about fighting oni. There was only that girl back there, and she wasn't very bright."

They reach the roof of a large restaurant located at the very center of the city, and when the reporter's foot touches the floor, Satori urgently whispers "stop! Don't move!"

The tengu girl freezes in place, and before she can ask, the mind-reader whispers "that's right. We're trapped. They'll hear us if we make a sound."

Shameimaru smiles, though her face loses all its color as she thinks "_so that means we have oni all around us? What can we do here, Satori-chan?_"

Komeiji shakes her terrified head, and then whispers "not just oni. I can feel them. They are all here, waiting for us to make a move. I don't know what we can do here. I'm scared."

The black-haired girl nods as she weakly chuckles, and then thinks "_yes, I understand. I am terrified too._"

They look around themselves, the maddening silence getting worse as they gaze toward the darkness ahead that is their goal, the elevator leading up.

That's when the purple-haired girl realizes something, then whispers "Aya-chan, I have some really bad news. The elevator is not working. If it was, we should be able to see its lights from here."

The tengu girl's racing heart starts beating faster as bullets of sweat fly from her forehead, then she whispers "and... how do we get it working again?"

The satori maiden sighs, points toward the darkness, then whispers "one of those buildings over there has the machinery that activates it. That's all I know. I'm sorry."

There is a light thud underneath them and Aya's instincts almost take the best of her and she tries to take flight, but she manages to steel herself strongly enough to keep in place.

After relaxing her tiny wings, she looks down to Satori and nervously whispers "what should we do now?"

Her partner whimpers softly, shakes her head, and then whispers "whether we move or not, they are going to find us at this rate."

The tengu girl nods, stretches her wings again, and after giving it as much thought as possible without dragging things out too long, she kicks off the roof.

Immediately after her jump the rooftop bursts in five different sections almost at once, and now the airborne girls are surrounded by child-sized zombie fairies with black hair and sagging, tattered and torn dresses that almost makes them look like wraiths, if it weren't for the yellowish wings and colored, but weak hair.

Their mouths are frozen open, worms wriggle out of their eye sockets, regardless of them having eyes or not, and their skins, though dry, have a sickly yellow color as though still alive but ill.

They moan and lament as they circle around the girls, then present their oversized claws as they raise their hands to attack, and swipe.

Shameimaru, with the mind-reader still on her hands, takes a dive and glides under the undead monsters, and just as they pass under them Komeiji flashes the undead creatures and kills two with one shot.

Aya dives again to avoid another pair of claws that just barely miss her calves, swoops up just before hitting the ground with her face, and as soon as she lands, she places her friend on the ground, takes her camera on hand, turns around, and then flashes the closest zombie fairy on the face, killing it with one bright shot.

As soon as that fairy drops and splats on the ground into a pool of tiny organs and blood, several more fairies, these with green dresses, a few spirits and two tiny oni with small white horns on their foreheads, rotting brown skins, and holes on their arms and torso, jump from the roofs and surround the girls.

"Dammit, they're everywhere!" exclaims the tengu girl as she raises her camera and looks around, wondering which targets to hit first.

Satori growls at the large spirits as a frightening ominous shadow is cast over her eyes and says "you vile, disgusting monsters won't get the **chance!**"

The purple-haired girl shoots the next flash and turns a spirit into dust, then all the fairies and oni roar as they move in to attack.

The tengu reporter flips in front of the oni so they can't take the mind-reader's side, and then flashes them several time, killing one of them after flashing its face.

The tiny oni drops on the ground on its face, and soon after a small pool of coagulated blood forms underneath it, making an unsettling wet noise as it pours out of its decaying body.

One of the fairies manages to graze its claws close to the girl's wings and raises its other hand for the follow-up, but one of the satori's beams snakes its way into her mouth and destroys her from within.

When Aya looks around, the spirits are gone, and three more fairies fall to the mind-reader's beams, but she still has the oni to deal with, and the little monster opens its rotten mouth to roar and reveals three large fangs along its dirty teeth.

She flashes the little monster twice and kills it with ease, and as its disgusting blood pours to the ground, she looks at it with disgust and says "hmph! So much for the scary oni."

The hooded girl hops away from the last fairy's claw swipe, opens her make-shift robe and flashes it to its death, then swipes the sweat off her pale forehead and says "phew. That's the last of them."

The ground to her immediate left explodes, then Satori finds herself on her back and pushing back against another zombie fairy, this one with normal skin, bushy brown hair and normal red eyes, yet having a crazed look on her face, and a snapping jagged-toothed jaw to accompany her sharp claws.

The zombie's strength defeats the youkai girl's with ease, and said monster takes a bite off the living girl's shoulder in a matter of a moment.

"**AYA-CHAAAN!**" screams the pained satori maiden when those teeth break her skin, and soon she sees the red blur of her friend's sandal kicking the fairy off of her and to the ground.

Shameimaru growls furiously at the offending creature that still looks as though she's alive, flashes it while kicking its stomach, breaking a hole on it, and as soon as it stops moving the tengu girl looks to her friend and desperately asks "Satori-chan, are you ok?"

The mind-reader stands up on her own, holding her bleeding shoulder and looking at the wound as it seals up rapidly on its own, then nods and says "y-yeah. She caught me by surprise there, and her strength was unreal."

The tengu girl stares at the monster with hate in her eyes and says "not just that, but it looks like she was infected very recently."

The girls watch with horror as the dead body of that fairy quickly turns dark, how her skin dries up and deflates like a balloon until it's clinging on to the creature's very bones, and how pieces of her hair fall off her head.

They look away from the disgusting scene, and noticing how her friend is starting to look distressed, the winged reporter asks "say, you really seem to hate those evil spirits. Why is that?"

Satori's face, though still pale with fright, takes a healthier look as the girl growls and angrily says "those disgusting creatures! They keep thinking very nasty stuff about us."

Genuinely curious, Aya asks "huh? Really? Like what?" while wrapping her friend's arm around her neck and holding her by the hip before moving on again.

The mind-reader grimaces and shakes her head, then says "if you really want to know, they want to touch our *****s and our *****s and ****** us until we pass out."

The tengu's face mixes with embarrassment and fright, turns purple as she grimaces, then the purple-haired girl nods and says "they were sick before, but now they are just nasty and disgusting."

Thinking quickly in hopes to think of something else, Shameimaru asks "so where should we head now? To turn on that elevator, I mean."

"I am not very sure," weakly begins the satori maiden, then closes her eyes to think, then says "let's keep going forward, and forget the roofs. They already know we are here. They might set up another ambush."

The tengu reporter nods and continues the walk with her friend, keeping silent while she starts imagining what kind of contraption they will find that operates an oni-built elevator.

* * *

><p>The girls run through the narrow alleys in the city, avoiding any open roads as they make their way to the controls of the elevator, or at least they hope they are headed there.<p>

Satori, though a little higher in spirits, still hasn't fully recovered from having to deal with her undead sister, and knowing this, her partner refuses to let her go, even if it makes fighting zombie fairies more troublesome.

To their luck, the zombie fairies and spirits are easy to deal with and will fall with just a flash or a beam on the face, though Aya dreads the fact that they are yet to come across another big oni like Suika.

She turns and shoots a flash to her right and kills another fairy just before its claw makes contact with her face, then turns right and locks on to a spirit and another fairy, shoots the beams, and kills them almost immediately, saving the hooded girl from a claw to the head.

As they move forward they start hearing laughter, cheering and some grunts, and immediately the tengu's face turns pale.

The next fairies are already scattering within their houses, knocking down several wooden and glass items in order to rush the girls outside in the alley.

While those fairies scatter out of their houses, the winged girl looks at her friend and nervously says "I think we, er, found the oni."

The satori maiden gulps loudly, her body shakes as they continue to run, then softly says "we better get ready then. Who knows how tough they've become now that they're undead monsters."

Right after finishing her sentence, she opens her cloak to reveal her armored third eye and flashes a zombie fairy at a window to the right, killing it before she enters the alley.

Five more zombies come fly high above behind the girls, so Shameimaru turns herself and her friend around and both shoot their flashes at their offenders, killing one each.

The other three monsters spread up and try to surround the live girls, but the tengu has already locked on all three and shoots her beams without even looking, killing the three zombies one at a time, and succeeding in clearing their path.

The mind-reader flashes upward and her partner looks up before asking, and sees the dissipating green clouds that were a trio of evil spirits.

Again, Satori looks sickened after dealing with them, and then Aya asks "what? Again?"

The purple-haired girl nods once, then the tengu sighs and says "to think, I thought that panty-shooting pervert at the human village was disgusting. At least he knew when to stop."

They reach a dead-end and have run out of alternate alleyways to take, plus the cheering and grunting voices have gotten louder, which means they are close to where those cheering monsters have gathered.

The frustrated tengu girl face palms and shakes her head in disbelief, then says "of all the crappy luck! Grr, seems we have no choice but take to the roofs again."

The satori maiden sighs, nods, and then says "please be ready to fight. I don't know if I can help against those oni. They were so kind and nice before. *Sigh* I can only imagine what kind of beasts they are now."

Shameimaru sighs, softly says "Satori-chan," but prefers to keep quiet and flaps her tiny wings while kicking off the ground to reach the roofs.

They land on top of the house in front and quickly they take notice of how loud those voices from before have become, meaning they are probably closer to the source than they thought.

They start looking around themselves for any signs of an attack and gasp when they spot several more fairies, a few oni and an evil spirit flying above them, but those ignore the girls and continue toward a small gathering center at a clearing in the middle of the houses and small stores.

In the center of this gathering spot is a large bonfire that illuminates the area well, and thanks to that the girls can see the shadows of the several oni there, including the familiar shapes of Suika and Yuugi; whom share a monstrous laugh; the shadows of spirits, fairies, and other creatures.

They observe as the shadows of other oni show them clashing their horns fiercely as though in some competition, and soon after they can hear the horrible sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones as one shadow falls.

The girls gasp and drop on the ground, then Satori whispers "we're in trouble. It's a miracle they didn't spot us already, but we can't stay here or we **will** get caught."

Aya looks around but finds nothing that could help, and after resigning to their fate she sighs and says "as much as I would like to avoid this, it seems we have no choice. We are going to have to face them one way or another."

The elder Komeiji sighs, looks to her partner with those frightened purple eyes, and says "alright then. I was expecting no less anyway."

The tengu girl notices how her friend is holding back her tears of fear, smiles tenderly at the mind-reader, places her hand on her friend's cheek, and says "you can stay up here if you like. Let me take care of those beasts while you keep an eye out on those fairies and perverted spirits."

The purple-haired girl shakes her head, returns the warm gesture by placing her hand on her friend's cheek, then softly says "this may hurt me, but it would hurt more to leave you on your own against the oni. I'll stay beside you and make sure to do my best by your side."

The girls smile at each other, giggle softly, then stand up and start running to the buildings nearest to the gathering spot to take a look at their chances of survival.

There is zombie Suika, sitting next to zombie Yuugi, whose skin looks saggy, like her little friend's, but it looks bluish and more solid, her hair looks as healthy as ever, the horn on her head has veins pulsating on it, her right eye as been taken over by wriggling worms, her left eye is a blood-red orb, her teeth have two fangs, one on the top of her mouth, the other on the bottom, her shirt is full of bloody holes where her skin seems to have been pierced by horns, and her skirt has a tear on the left, leaving a bloody gash on her leg exposed.

The other oni there are missing limbs, their skins have become pale and dry, some are missing their eyes, others have a cluster of worms wriggling from within their throats, some have their horns broken, but all share the same horn wounds as zombie Yuugi, though some have them in questionable areas.

As for the few youkai there, most of them look like fury midgets with blood on their heads and thorns on their backs or tails, and those that have a more human-like appearance have lost their ears and noses, and all have worms wriggling out of their bellies.

"Man, they are a lot less scary than I thought they would be, but they are still disgusting," comments the reporter while scouting the area with her eyes some more.

The hooded girl stares at her partner in a most unfriendly way, and then says "they have worms crawling out of their bodies. They are scary enough for me."

Zombie Yuugi spots the girls and stands, killing off the fights, the cheers and the merriment, then points toward the roof at the living girls and grumbles something in either a made-up language, or an ancient tongue.

The girls don't care either way. They have been found out as expected, and now ready themselves for a hard fight.

* * *

><p>Yuugi starts grumbling and roaring while pointing in several directions, then Suika roars, rams her left horn on the blonde oni's back, then they both start arguing as soon as the horn is pulled out.<p>

The exchange of roars escalate until the small oni knocks the large one to the ground with a punch to the face, then turns to face the creatures there and resumes the commands.

The still-live girls look nervously at the situation from the roof, then Aya gulps and asks "um, any idea what they might be up to?"

Satori nods, and then nervously says "it appears the oni are the ones in charge, and if I'm not mistaken, they might be planning a strategy to get us."

The tengu girl gasps, points her camera at zombie Suika, locks all ten beams on her face, then quickly shoots.

The satori maiden observes her friend's move, then quickly adds her own beams and aims them at zombie Yuugi, who still lies on the ground.

The beams take the air and fly down to their targets, then several fairies, hairy youkai and one limbless oni jump in the way of the beams, sacrificing themselves for their leaders.

"Shit," spits the winged girl while biting on her index finger.

"No choice," begins the hooded girl, sounding as though ready to cry, "we'll have to take them all out if we want to defeat those two."

Aya growls, smacks her face with her hand while saying "gods, please damn these monsters," then locks her beams on the few remaining oni in the area in hopes of raising their chance of survival.

The beams hit five oni and kill them all in one shot, but the other five beams get intercepted by other fairies, youkai and spirits, saving the rest of the zombie oni and allowing them to run behind and inside some buildings.

The tengu girl growls again, her fear draining the color from her whole body, and after a frustrated stomp she shouts "Yukari is going to pay **dearly** for chucking us in here!"

She looks at Satori and is about to ask if she agrees, but she notices her friend is frozen in fear and standing on her feet due to a miracle.

The mind-reader turns her trembling neck to look at her tengu friend with those lost and unfocused eyes, then points a shaky hand up and says "my home... was never like this."

The winged girl looks above where Suika and Yuugi are standing, and behind them, up on the cave's ceiling, hangs a massive ball of organs and skins stuck and tied together by some unseen force, dripping blood that mixes with other odd substances and fall into a large glass bottle inside a small raggedy shack that stands exactly below it.

The disgusting liquid has already filled one fourth of that bottle, and the sickening brownish-reddish green color is more than enough to turn a stomach around.

The reporter is grateful her stomach is empty, or else she would be blowing chunks all over the place in a heartbeat, but she quickly remembers her partner, notices how she's about to break, then quickly grabs her by the hip, supports her, then jumps off the roof two seconds before the building they were on collapses.

Aya looks at Satori, sighs, then says "this is called Mysterious Mountain," then begins to hum another happy, jumpy and waltzy tune.

As she begins her humming, she is immediately surrounded by a spirit and several bleeding oni with missing limbs.

Not stopping her song, she flashes the spirit and turns it to dust, hops to the open space between the zombie oni, flashes the left monster without one arm and kills it, ducks to avoid a claw swipe from the right, jumps to avoid a horn tackle from behind, flashes and kills the rampaging zombie, then lands away from the horde.

The song starts filling both girls' heads, and Satori seems a little more lively, enough to flash an oni to the right and say "what an uplifting song."

Aya grunts, throws her partner to the air, making her scream with surprise, and shouts "shoot as many as you can," then resumes humming and starts cart-wheeling around while shooting flashes and avoiding tackles and pointy horns.

The hooded girl stops screaming, and with the music filling her head again she manages to steel herself and shoots flashes while spinning around in the air, taking out fairies and spirits that come from the bridge.

Meanwhile, more buildings collapse, and more zombie oni jump out of hiding to help their falling comrades.

Satori begins to fall, but Aya jumps high enough to catch the girl on her back, and as she begins to glide around she shouts "hang on tight. I'm gonna show these zombies what happens when you piss a tengu off."

The mind-reader nods, then realizes something and asks "can you do all of that with me on your back like this?"

The reporter smiles, lands and quickly summersaults forward to avoid a tackle from another oni, and just as she lands she says "don't worry about me. I'm feeling pumped now!"

For a second, the satori youkai thinks of her friend slightly inflated like some balloon, but she shakes the thought away and focuses on holding on and sneaking a few flashes while her friend resumes humming and flipping around like an acrobat.

Between flips and jumps the girls take out every zombie oni, fairy, youkai and evil spirit getting too near, and slowly make their way toward the two oni leaders, whom stand in place, watching the girls with their arms crossed.

Three zombie oni left, though these three smart monsters keep their distance and seems are about to retreat, however the three of them wind back and the girls watch with disgust as something moves from their stomachs up to their heads.

Their necks break, blood splashes all over the ground around them as disgusting worm-like creatures with small jagged teeth in cylindrical mouths rise from within the undead creatures and screech at the living girls, threatening them as they move closer.

The humming tengu and surprisingly lively mind-reader look at each other and nod, then the reporter locks on the worms' mouths while the hooded girl charges light in front of her third eye.

The girls shoot their beams and the two worm monsters to either side swallow the light like it's a meal to them, but the middle one spits a disgusting yellow gel that traps the light within it, saving itself from defeat.

The beams expand and the yellow goop erupts, while the two gluttonous worms scream like human children before exploding like a pair of pimples.

The worm in the middle sucks the erupting blood in the air, then screeches as smaller worms grow out of its own mouth, wriggling and making disgusting squishy noises while moving.

Aya and Satori grimace, but quickly compose themselves and the tengu says "alright, looks like we weaken this little smartass a bit."

The hooded girl taps her friend's shoulder and asks "shouldn't I get off?"

The tengu girl shakes her head, then says "don't try to trick me; I know you are still weak. Just stay there and hold tight, and keep shooting when you can."

The purple-haired girl nods, then the winged girl resumes her humming and moves forward.

She takes her fan on hand and swings a couple of green petal-shaped bullets at the monster, but doing so forces it to jump high in the air and raise a claw, while the worm itself starts spitting a reddish goop.

Shameimaru rushes away while Komeiji shoots the goop with her flash, turning it to small rocks after they dry up, and then shouts "just flash it while you can."

The tengu girl kicks the ground with every step and zips around the monster, confusing it with her speed, then she jumps toward it, she and her partner flash it together, and as it falls to the ground, screeching as it dies, the tiny worms from within start flying out of it.

The black-haired girl quickly flashes the little creatures to their instant deaths, disintegrating several of them with every flash, and as soon as they are all dead she raises her left arm and cheers "oh yeah, this early bird got the worm!"

A loud rumble gets the girls' attention, and then the hooded girl gulps and says "I think those two are mad."

Zombies Suika and Yuugi are growling and stomping on the ground, causing a light tremor, then set their furious and disgusting sights on the girls.

The crow girl bravely says "if you want to go and hide while I deal with these, you are more than welcome to do so."

The mind-reader shakes her head and says "no, and you are right, if you let me go now I'll just drop, so at least allow me to help you with these two, as long as I'm not a-"

"You aren't a burden my friend," says the tengu with a smile before pointing at the oni leaders, then adding "come on, let's rid ourselves of these freaks so we can get out of here!"

The purple-haired girl nods, then they two girls stare at the zombie oni roaring softly at them from across the open yard.

* * *

><p>Yuugi immediately kicks the bonfire, sending scorching wood and stone toward the girls, but Shameimaru swings her fan and sends back the flaming debris, which crash on the zombies, but show no signs of causing any actual damage.<p>

Aya clicks her tongue, shoots a beam at the large zombie oni, causing her to screech and step back, then whispers "let's keep our distance. If they get too close we are done for."

Zombie Suika punches the ground and causes it to split and crack, and that crack heads straight toward the tengu and her piggybacked friend, whom find themselves hopping backward until they reach the crumbled house they were using as a platform earlier, and that's where the crack stops.

Satori looks at her friend, her eyes showing some fright but still looking lively, even though no song is being hummed, and says "whatever it takes, I'll help you as best I can. Just please let us get out of here alive."

The tengu girl grins with malice, then the mind-reader gasps and asks "are you sure about that?"

The black-haired girl nods, and then says "charge it up real good and shoot as soon as they are stunned."

As soon as the hooded girl nods, the crazy reporter zips straight toward the two zombie oni, stops in front of them and wiggles her fingers at them, then both launch a punch at her and the girl on her back, but miss when the agile crow jumps up high.

Shameimaru lands right on their faces and jumps back up, then the elder Komeiji shoots two sets of five beams that strike both saggy-skinned oni and expand in front of their faces, but it appears that has done minimal damage.

Noticing this development, Aya decides to try once more and prepares to do a stomp attack again, however she gasps and shouts "HANG ON TIGHT!" then glides away, though not as fast as she'd like.

While they wait on the ground for their prey, zombie Yuugi takes an impossibly deep breath, then suddenly opens her mouth and roars as loudly as she can, sending a dangerously powerful wave of sound and a massive cluster of blue bullets and beams up at the girls.

With Satori's help shooting danmaku hearts behind, Aya manages to glide fast enough to avoid being hit by the bullets and the sound wave, and both flinch when it's that very wave that crashes on the cave's ceiling and breaks several giant rocks that fall down on the zombie oni, crushing the many dead ones and making an even bigger mess of blood and random organs.

The girls land safely, breathe hard through their mouths to keep up with their heartbeats, then the winged reporter turns her neck around to her friend and angrily says "I really hate that Annihilating Roar spell!"

Her mind-reading friend nods in agreement, and then gasps when she looks back and shouts "look out!"

The bird girl quickly jumps out of the way to avoid a massive fireball to the back, then gasps and grimaces when that very fireball heads straight to the giant ball of organs on the ceiling.

The fireball explodes next to the disgusting ball and does no damage, but neither girl has time to admire that and quickly turn to face the zombies, whom hold a massive boulder from the rocks they broke from the ceiling on hand each.

"**SHOOT!**" desperately commands Shameimaru, and both girls begin shooting beams at random, though to their dismay, even when one enters through Yuugi's worm-filled eye or Suika's mouth, the zombies don't seem to be affected that greatly.

"Hold on as tight as you can Satori-chan," commands Aya as she grips her friend by the knees and bends her own while stretching her short wings.

Zombie Suika throws her massive boulder with ease and the tengu girl flaps her wings painfully hard as she jumps, then Yuugi throws her rock at the girls as they dart upward.

Suika's boulder causes the ground to tremble as it rolls toward the glass bottle with the disgusting fluids within and smashes it into bits, releasing a flood of that nasty-smelling organ substance mixed with blood and glass shards.

Yuugi's massive boulder misses the girls by an inch, though manages to force the girls to veer off course slightly, and then continues on its way toward the giant ball of organs.

The living girls scream as they are forced to glide back toward the zombies and the disgusting fluids that spilled out of the giant bottle while the massive boulder crashes right in the middle of the organs ball.

The disgusting massive ball that smells like hell ten times over bursts when gas accumulated inside of it breaks free and bursts, pushing the gliding girls toward a tall restaurant's roof while almost burning their nostrils off due to the stench.

The zombies Yuugi and Suika begin to roar an argument while being bathed on organs and fluids, and then their argument becomes violent and quickly escalates to punching, biting and clawing.

Aya and Satori observe the fight from the safety of the roof, though aren't saved from the vomit-inducing smell that has taken over the city, and watch how the little oni jumps and easily rips the head off the large oni's neck.

The bloody vertebra that is left behind is quickly surrounded by wriggling vines that look like white veins that search for and latch onto the severed head and slowly pull it back onto its body.

The tengu sees the chance she needed, takes her camera, locks on as many beams as she can, and while trying to hold her stomach inside of herself she whispers "shutter chance," and then clicks the camera's button.

The beams fly true and fast straight into the wriggling and bloody opening on that zombie's neck and all ten beams enter a moment before the head is placed back on.

Zombie Suika roars furiously after seeing what happened, throws her oni friend's body away just as its stomach explodes into a shower of blood and rotten organs, then sets her hateful gaze on the girls all the way on that roof.

She roars again, causing the Ancient City to tremble and the buildings to almost fall on their own, then flies after the girls.

Shameimaru and Komeiji yelp when the oni takes flight, then the tengu girl grips her friend's knees again, jumps as hard as she can, then glides straight toward the dark bridge.

"Wait, we haven't found the elevator controls," exclaims Satori.

Aya loosens her grip on the hooded girl's knees and prepares her camera, then says "no time! She's after us!"

Both girls yelp when spirits appear from below them, threatening to grab them, but are quickly met with quick flashes that turn them to nothing.

Meanwhile, zombie Suika catches up to the gliding girls, but just as she tries to grip the tengu's calf, a zombie fairy that dove from the roof gets in the way and gets her head squished into jelly by the small and mighty hand instead.

The oni roars with frustration at her own failure, gets flashed in the eyes for it and falls, though not alone.

The zombie somehow grabs Satori's make-shift robe and pulls hard as she falls, and the frightened mind-reader grips her friend tight, though accidentally grabs her breasts as well, and the poor tengu screams out of pain when she's forcefully pulled hard by her sensitive assets.

The hooded girl thinks fast and sweeps a quick speared hand while covering it with danmaku energy, burns zombie Suika's hand off, then releases her friend and nervously says "I'm so sorry I gripped you like that. It was a reflex, I swear," and quickly releases her well-endowed tengu friend's chest.

They land a few feet away from the zombie oni where Aya promptly holds her breasts while wincing in pain, and fighting with that awful jolt of pain, she grunts "it's ok Sa-Satori-chan. Ugh. Is she dead?"

Zombie Suika roars as she rips the stone wall out of a store, then the pained tengu turns around with her fan and camera ready, and aiming a very dirty look at the little monster she growls "you are going to pay for that, you flat-chested loli!"

The sudden gasp from the monster is a good indication she understood that insult, then she roars almost as loud as Yuugi did and throws the wall with all her might.

Even with the mind-reader screeching with fright, Shameimaru crouches low to the ground and moves right to avoid the long flying stone wall at the last moment, then rushes straight at the oni.

She swings her fan and sends a blade that cuts the monster's left arm off, swings it three more times and each blade opens a hole on the zombie's neck wider, then lunges herself forward to kick her head back, cracking her neck open widely, then commands "do it now!"

The satori maiden quickly summons energy in front of her third eye, shoots eight bright beams of light that quickly enter zombie Suika's bleeding neck, and soon after the tiny body expands as the light within explodes with insane force.

The tiny body falls on the ground and the sagging skin holding her head near her neck breaks, leaving that horned head to roll slightly to the left, and now the body and neck begin to bleed.

"That'll teach you to mess with this tengu, bitch," angrily spits the pissed, and still sore reporter.

Komeiji starts rubbing her friend's black hair while softly saying "I'm so sorry. That really hurt you. If there's anything you want from me to make it up to you, please let me know."

Shameimaru grins, scratches her friend's purple hair with her left hand, then points forward and says "it's alright. It wasn't your fault. Now help me turn on the mechanism."

The hooded girl expresses her confusion, but quickly realizes what the tengu is talking about.

The wall Suika threw crushed and pinned several zombie fairies underneath it, and revealed the impressive high-tech controls to the elevator hidden inside what looked like a simple marble house.

The machine is actually made of metal and has an actual working control panel with flashing buttons, unlike the idea of a wooden mill being moved by water in Aya's imagination.

Satori taps the top of her friend's head with her fist, and then says "I told you it was built by the oni. You don't have to be that surprised."

The reporter chuckles as she helps her friend off her back, laughs "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," then starts walking to the controls and says "come on, let's turn this thing on."

* * *

><p>After a few bleeps and a loud clank, one by one, lights begin to appear in the distance, going all the way up the cave's roof and disappearing into the large hole on the rocky ceiling the farther up they go.<p>

The girls walk out of the control room, then the tengu looks slightly disappointed while saying "man, I thought it would be more flashy, like that kappa's stuff. Eek!"

She trips on a rock and falls on her hands and knees, then growls and mumbles "stupid walking. This kind of thing never happens when you fly."

The satori girl giggles while holding her sides, then says "Aya-chan, you can be quite the character sometimes. Here, let me help-" then takes a better look at the fallen bird girl and finishes whispering "up."

She gazes upon those milky white calves, admires how that black skirt bends down and almost takes she curvy shape of those perfect legs, that slightly arched back with those cute and tiny wings, that broken shirt taking such curvy shape, then looks at those adorable shimmering eyes that are currently glancing upward while that tengu girl sweetly asks "I'm a character?"

A bit of blood trickles down the mind-reader's nose as she thinks "_holy spirits of the underground, she's so sexy and cute! W-why didn't I notice this before? Wait, what in the world am I **thinking?**_"

Aya continues glancing upward at her friend and asks "um, Satori-chan, are you alri-" then notices the blood running down her friend's nose and springs on her feet, desperately asking "**Satori-chan? What's wrong? Why are you bleeding? Are you hurt?**"

The blissful mind-reader quickly wipes the blood off her nose, and still unable to rub the smile off her face she replies "oh, don't worry. Th-that sometimes happens. I'm ok though. No need to worry."

Satori gasps and her bliss becomes shock while looking behind her friend, and after she stammers the tengu's name, the black-haired girl turns around and gasps.

Further ahead, cast in shadows against the lights from the elevator, is the familiar frame of a short-haired girl with an umbrella standing in the middle of the road.

The girl stands there for some time staring back at the two living girls, then suddenly twitches, turns around, and takes off running.

"Wait! Kogasa," calls the winged girl as she starts to give chase, ignoring the satori youkai whom shouts "wait! Aya, wait! Remember what that devil said! Stop! WAIT!"

Shameimaru grabs her friend, tosses her to the air, catches the pink-haired girl on her back, and ignoring the mind-reader's complaints the crow tengu continues chasing after the umbrella girl.

Aya speeds up now that she has her friend secure on her back, and while running as fast as she can, she calls "wait! Kogasa, wait! Why won't you stop? Please, I just want to talk to you!"

Satori gives up on trying stopping the tengu, and as she looks at the orange LED on her third eye's armor, she resigns to thinking they will have to fight a very strong foe.

Her attention quickly turns to the many destroyed bodies of the zombie fairies, youkai and oni lying on the ground, windows and roofs and thinks "_wait, what's this? I don't remember us killing these guys._"

The monsters' bloodied bodies have been scratched to pieces, ripped in half, crushed into disgusting masses of flesh and goopy blood, and after having seen enough the satori maiden looks away and thinks "_this is so disgusting, but this might mean that demon girl was wrong. Maybe... maybe Kogasa is still on our side!_"

She taps her tengu friend's shoulder and loudly says "she may be one our side! Don't get too close, but don't lose her either!"

The cocky tengu scoffs and says "not planning to," and speeds up to continue her chase, though quickly notices that no matter how fast she goes, she can't get any closer.

She ignores this and continues speeding through destroyed zombie bodies, broken buildings, and finally reaches a wooden bridge with ornamental red rails that rises above an underground river that hides jagged rocks on its shores.

The girls frown and simultaneously call "**wait**," as the shadowed umbrella girl flies up the hole leading outside.

The tengu slows down when she realizes the futility of continuing the chase, then she and her partner watch as several tiny bodies fall from that hole by the numbers after sparks of light illuminate that exit momentarily.

The hooded girl sighs, and then sadly says "maybe it was for the best. It didn't look like she wanted to see us anyway."

Shameimaru's eyes hide under the shadow of her hair as she droops, and in a depressive tone she says "y-yeah. Looks like it," while remembering that blurry image of Hatate killing their light-blue haired partner.

There is a light thud on the bridge and the girls look forward, thinking it's just one of the fallen zombie's bodies that crashed near them, but both quickly forget their sadness as they look upon a new threat.

Zombie Parsee Mizuhashi stands tall on their way, raising her clawed hands to the sides as she glares at the girls with those glowing green eyes that have tiny wriggling tentacles around them.

Her skin is bluish-grey, her fangs can't fit inside her jagged-toothed mouth, only three strands of hair remain on the left side of her head as the right and back is just a broken hole where her brain pops out into plain sight, her usual stylish clothes are replaced by a few rags that cover her dried and wrinkled womanly assets, but fail to cover the worm-infested hole on her stomach and left thigh.

Satori gets closer to her friend's ear and whispers "be careful, there isn't enough space here to-" and before either of them notice, zombie Parsee strikes the elder Komeiji on the face with her claws and sends her flying back several feet.

"**SATORI!**" desperately calls Aya before having to sway right to avoid a second claw swipe, then shoots a few green shard bullets from her hands to push back her attacker.

"_I'm sorry Satori-chan, but I can't go to you with this bitch on me_," thinks the winged reporter as she faces off against the annoying zombie and takes her camera and maple fan on hand.

The bluish zombie girl roars, then the tengu angrily shouts "come and get some, pointy-eared freak!"

The zombie swipes her claws twice in the air, roars furiously, then runs toward the girl.

Aya flips backward and kicks the monster on the chin and her left foot is immediately pierced on the ankle by the tiny tentacles on Parsee's right eye.

She screams in pain and falls on her side, zombie Parsee quickly hops on top of the bird girl, and as she opens her mouth and leans forward she gets a mouthful of beams from the reporter's camera.

The zombie screeches and screams while writhing on the bridge's boards, then Shameimaru stands up on her right foot, winces from the stinging pain on her left foot, but still raises her fan and prepares to attack.

Zombie Parsee recovers and quickly turns around to stand on her hands and feet like a beast, snarls at the offending girl, then jumps forward.

The tengu girl swings her fan and traps the monster inside a small tornado, shoots several flashes at the vile zombie, making her scream out in pain, then swings her fan again to send that tornado and cargo smashing against the right-side bridge railing.

Zombie Parsee recovers quickly from the attack and swiftly jumps on the tengu girl, catching her off guard and knocking her to the ground, and immediately leans closer and rips a whole chunk out of the winged girl's left pointy ear.

Aya screams out loud and drops her fan to punch the munching zombie off herself then curls on the ground while holding her bleeding ear and whimpers as the unbearable pain takes over her mind.

Again, the zombie recovers quickly and immediately jumps straight at the tengu girl, then gets blasted on the side by hearts and beams of light, and then she roars as said beams coil around her wrists and ankles and restrain her in mid-air.

Satori walks toward her with a furious expression while holding a slightly used water bottle on her right hand, and while charging a pulsating ball of light in front of her third eye, she angrily growls "I liked it better when you were just a jealous bitch."

She shoots a trio of thick and extremely bright beams that burst the zombie's eyes as they go through, and breaks her fangs as the third beam enters through her mouth, and for an instant the zombie shrieks, then quickly dies.

As soon as that decaying body thuds on the wooden floor, the mind-reader kneels beside her whimpering friend to take a look at that ear, notices how it's starting to heal, then pours just a drop of the divine water on it while sighing with relief "good, it's healing."

The moment that drop touches the wound Aya can feel the pain leave her, then she turns on her back to look at her smiling friend, smiles back, then says "we just keep saving each others' butts over and over again."

The hooded girl smiles sweetly, and then says "that's what partners are for."

She helps the winged girl on to her feet, then points toward the end of the bridge and says "come on. I think Kogasa cleared the way for us. We can use the elevator without worry now."

Shameimaru nods, gets on her feet with the help from her friend, then they both walk over toward the elevator.

The tengu reporter is impressed by what she sees at the end of that bridge, and starts taking pictures of the elevator and its mechanics.

Metallic gears, stone supports and beams, a decorated wooden door, bright lights illuminating everything all the way to the top, reinforced glass for scenic viewing, and after whistling with admiration the reporter says "this would put the kappa to shame."

Satori giggles, grabs her partner's hand, pulls her toward the machine, and after pushing the button to open the door, she says "come now. We're almost out of here."

Noticing the subtle hint of hurry in the mind-reader's voice, the awed reporter lets herself be pulled along, and now the two girls ride the oni-built elevator out of the underground.

* * *

><p>After a peaceful seven minutes ride up the elevator, the girls finally reach the top of the cave; their ticket to leaving the underground behind.<p>

The elevator doors open on their own, and the girls cautiously walk out of it with their flashing weapons on hand, alert to everything around them.

The elevator lights dim down, then Satori walks up to Aya and softly says "don't worry, it's just standing by."

The tengu nods, glances around suspiciously, and then whispers "man, Kogasa really did a good job over here. Still, let's keep our eyes peeled."

Behind them is the large hole leading back to the underground world, and surrounding it are small rocks, boulders, and the bloodied bodies of several zombie fairies, all lying dead on their own pools of blood and other questionable black bits of rotting flesh, and some hang from the cracks and pointy edges on the dark cave walls, whether by their clothes, wings, hands or legs.

In front of them is the moist path leading outside, where a stream of water flows toward a smaller hole leading underground, where it will join the underground river.

To the sides are more dead zombies adorning the dark walls and rocky floors which consist of fairies, humans and some beast youkai.

The girls decide to walk on the left side of the cave where the water is shallower, even though they have to jump over several broken bodies, some spilling odd colored substances and old puss blobs that flow down the water's path.

They grimace at the sight of the mangled bodies and the smell of decay surrounding the entire cave, but push toward the dim light at the end of the long tunnel.

As they walk through the cave they both secretly look around for any signs of Kogasa, other than the many mangled bodies around, but when the visual search fails, Shameimaru sadly says "so, I guess it was for the best. That we didn't reach her, I mean."

Komeiji sighs, thinks her next words hard, then smiles and says "hey, maybe that wasn't Kogasa after all. Maybe it was Yuka. You know she looked like a shadow, so it could have been."

Aya smiles as she shakes her head, and then says "purple eggplant."

The mind-reader is stumped, and before she goes ahead and reads her partner's mind, the tengu says "the umbrella was Kogasa's. However, like you, I am questioning this carnage she's caused. Hmm~. Maybe she's so powerful she can't control herself. Maybe she doesn't want to hurt us by accident and that's why she ran away."

The surprised girl with a hood stares in shock at her partner and asks "again? Seriously, Aya-chan, it's supposed to be **me** who reads minds here, not the other way around!"

The winged reporter covers her mouth as she chuckles, and then the mind-reader sighs and says "but that aside, I think you are right. That demon girl seemed a little frightened of that zombie gi-"

Something behind the girls makes a loud clack, and both youkai quickly turn around with their flashing items on hand and readied.

They can hear something breathing through its mouth as it moves around the moist rocks while the girls continue to back away toward the drier part of the cave.

Zombie Kisume crawls out of the shadows, pulling herself with her bony, bloody hands and breathing hard through her mouth as though pained.

Her white shirt is in tatters but surprisingly clean, her face is pale blue, her eyes are two clean white orbs, her left pigtail remains the same while the right side of her hair is just a blood-stained clump of loose hair, and her legs have become a mass of clay that has molded itself inside her tiny brown bucket.

She breathes through her mouth and grunts desperately as she reaches for the girls, and when she sees Satori she screams "**KILL MEEEEE! IT HUUUUUUUURTS!**"

The live girls are shocked with surprise, then Aya lifts her camera and loudly says "we'll try to fix this as fast as we can," then shoots three beams from the camera.

The zombie girl opens her mouth to so that the beams may enter, and as the light explodes inside her body she smiles and cries "**thank you! THANK YOUUUU!**"

The little zombie falls to the ground and her breath gurgles out of her throat as she cries out her last.

After she expires, the girls notice a very nasty bite on her back oozing with fresh blood, then the tengu says "that poor thing. She must have been turned recently."

Satori sobs as silently as she can while backing away from the little tsurube-otoshi's body, her eyes losing focus, her skin becomes paler by the second, and just as she's about to break down again, she feels the warm hands of her friend grab hold of her.

Before the mind-reader speaks, Aya places a hand on her head and says "I know. I know how you feel, but you can't break down now. Only we can get our homes back Satori-chan. You have to be strong."

The purple-haired girl breathes erratically through her mouth as she nods rapidly, then gulps down her desire to cry and yelps "ok," then takes a deep breath and calmly continues "yes, you-you're right. I'm sorry."

Shameimaru smiles, squats in front of her friend, and says "piggyback ride."

The purple-haired girl smiles, then drops on the winged girl's back as though sapped from her strength, then wraps her arms around the girl's neck, and as soon as she's safely secured, the crow tengu gets up and continues the walk toward the light.

* * *

><p>The further they move toward the exit, the less rocks and dead fairies they see, however, the closer they get to the light, the cave becomes darker.<p>

"I don't like this. Something is very off about this," whispers Aya while glancing around, to which Satori nods and whispers "I know. There is something very odd about this darkness. Seems... unnatural."

Regardless of what they may feel, they push onward toward the dimming light and soon find themselves surrounded by darkness far more maddening than that of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

The girls need to tap each other just to be certain they are still together, and after making sure they are the tengu whispers "Satori-chan, this is bad. I think we're being watched by-"

A loud hiss from the cave's roof startles the girls, but no matter how hard they look, they cannot see the source.

They can hear a light thud from nearby, followed by some light taps and crunching noises from the ground, then something roars softly, then yelps after the sound of scratching against the walls echoes around.

The darkness begins to dissipate and some light shines through, enough for them to see they are trapped inside a blob of darkness and the hissing creature that's been stalking them, standing on all fours on the ground like a vicious predator.

Zombie Rumia's bluish skin has filled with clusters of crust, particularly on the right side of her face, her eyes are two swollen red orbs being held by a wriggling tentacle each, her back has a rotting hole where maggots have begun to feast, and her left shoe is broken thanks to the claws growing out of them.

The zombie girl spots her prey and snarls while sticking out a bumpy snake-like tongue to moisten her lips, then jumps toward the girls and gets a face full of flashes.

She screeches and jumps into the darker areas of the dark blob, then Aya shouts "dammit! So damned close to escaping! Who knew we'd find Rumia here!"

Satori taps her friend on the shoulder and says "let me down! You won't be able to get her with me on you like this," then flashes to the right on reflex, just as the zombie girl jumps to attack again, forcing the darkness zombie back into hiding.

The tengu allows the mind-reader to climb down, shoots a flash to the left, then gasps before dropping on her back and kicking the little zombie girl's stomach, forcing her to fly above them and toward her darkness yet again.

The satori maiden hops back, flashes zombie Rumia just as she peeks her head out of the darkness again, the notices the little creep hides back into the dark blob to escape the attack.

She looks at the winged girl and says "she's avoiding our flashes with her darkness. We need to draw her out."

Aya nods, takes her fan on hand, and then says "stand in the middle. She'll have no choice but to reveal herself, and when she does I'll trap her in a tornado!"

Both girls nod, confirming the plan, then move to the center of the dark block they are in and wait for zombie Rumia to attack.

The clever predator of the darkness observes them from a safe distance and waits, studying her prey as they search around themselves, looking for her, then her hunger takes over and she moves to attack.

Satori closes her eyes and tries to listen for any signs of movement, then suddenly gasps, points up and shouts "she's coming from above!"

The tengu girl hops back to avoid the black blur diving straight at her, then swings her fan and traps the little zombie of darkness inside her tornado.

"Finish her off," commands the winged girl, and she and her partner immediately shower the squealing zombie Rumia with flashes and beams without pause, and just like that, the blob of darkness disappears and the zombie of darkness falls limp on the solid floor.

The living girls relax, get a little closer to the darkness monster, then Shameimaru whispers "man, what an ugly mutation. Poor thing can't even close her eyes."

The winged girl shrieks when the monster spring from the ground and tackles her on the stomach, then carries her away back into the deep cave while the black-haired girl calls "Satori-chan, **shoot it!**"

Before she realizes it, the mind-reader shoots a strong beam that snakes its way through the air and toward the darkness where last she saw the zombie taking her friend.

There is a bright flash in the distance, followed by two more flashes, and then Satori hesitates, wondering if she should go back there to save her friend.

Her heart starts pounding as the silence around her begins to consume her again, her mind begins to fill with thoughts of loneliness now that Aya is gone, then her legs start moving on their own and she makes her way back inside.

It only takes her a few seconds before she sees her friend rubbing her back on the floor with the limp body of zombie Rumia to her side lying on a rock and unable to close those frightening eyes hanging on those long strings.

The crow girl notices her friend and raises her bloodied left arm to wave it as she calls "I'm alright! It's ok Satori-chan."

The elder Komeiji gasps at the sight of all that blood on her friend, but before she can even form the words in her mind, her sight goes blank and out of focus, her skin turns pale, and even with that hood on, Shameimaru can see the girl is intensely frightened.

The tengu looks behind her and gasps at the sight of zombie Koishi, wobbling her way through the rocky path with her reattached, fanged third eye bleeding profusely, her skin more pruned and a little darker blue, her right eye reborn as a mass of pulsating flesh, and the glass shard her older sister stabbed on her still stuck on her chest.

She moves her eye around as though looking for something, and when she spots her sister she hisses "oneeeeee-chaaaaaaan~ Why do you leave? I am lonely. Stay with Koishi~ So lonely. Koishi so lonely."

Zombie Koishi quickens her pace after spotting her older sister and smiles, showing off what few teeth she has left on those rotting gums, and all Satori can do is shiver in place and whimper "Koishi. Please, stay back sis. Please *sniffle*."

"Not gonna happen," mutters Aya to herself as she kicks hard off the ground and swiftly glide kicks the zombie satori on the side of the head.

The monster girl snarls and hisses as she gets back up while her empty third eye snaps its lids like a mouth, but before she can get on her feet, the tengu girl places her camera right in front of the zombie's eyes and flashes her.

Zombie Koishi screeches as she writhes around on the rocky ground, recovers quickly and snarls as she jumps toward the reporter, but said girl shoots the seven locked on beams straight into the little monster's mouth.

The zombie girl stops her attack after swallowing the beams, takes two steps back, smiles, then softly says "take care... of onee-chan for me."

"Wait, what?" spits the tengu reporter as she reaches for the zombie, but by the time she grabs the decaying monster's cold hand she is already dead.

She releases the cold and dry hand of Koishi and stares as the body drops solidly on the ground, and after almost a minute of staring she turns around to face Satori.

The purple-haired girl has curled up into a ball, covers her face with her hood and sobs while shivering in place.

Aya walks closer to her friend and kneels besides her before asking "Satori-chan? Do you need to rest?"

The upset youkai shakes her head and cries "no. J-just get me out of here *sob*, please!"

The tengu girl sighs with both annoyance and helplessness, lifts her crying friend like a princess, then runs toward the cave's exit, making sure to block her thoughts, even though she knows this mind-reading youkai can't read her thoughts while being this upset.

* * *

><p>Aya runs with Satori on her arms straight toward that dim light that keeps growing larger the closer they get to the exit, and without any monsters around the trek is much faster.<p>

"It seems out there still looks like night, but whatever, we're almost out of here," excitedly comments the tengu girl as she gets closer to the cave's exit.

The hooded mind-reader sighs and nods, then softly says "let's keep an open eye Aya-chan. Things might be different out there."

The winged girl slows her pace while looking down and nodding to her friend, flips the satori youkai on to her back, then takes her camera from her pocket to ready herself.

They finally exit that cave and flash like maniacs as the tengu keeps running forward, putting that cave as far behind them as she can while making sure nothing gets on their way.

As they flash around they kill several zombie fairies with wiggling black hair and black rotten skins, a green ghoul that didn't even get the chance to see them, and a couple of those small two-headed boar youkai with black ooze for saliva.

They run into the Forest of Magic where they are attacked by the spiders with mouths on their abdomens, but they are too excited and keep flashing everything in their path, and the spiders simply go down with one shot, just like everything else so far.

Aya jumps over the monsters' webs and reaches a wide clearing, where she and Satori are met with the sleeping mutant vampires with fetuses on their heads.

They stop and observe the stationary creatures as those disgusting slimy fetuses swing their tentacles around and screech while the main body sleeps.

The mind-reader gets off her friend's back, then taps the tengu on the shoulder to show her friend her recovered face, then both nod.

They silently raise their flashing weapons and while Shameimaru locks on to three of those disgusting fetuses, Komeiji charges her beams with as much light as she can.

They shoot the beams, which slither in the air like snakes, and all eight mutants screech for a second before dropping dead on the ground.

The winged girl scoffs, and then says "that wasn't even fair, but **I don't care!** This Gensokyo isn't fair!"

The hooded satori nods and softly says "right you are! These ruthless creatures don't deserve..." and as thoughts of Koishi take her mind, she lowers her head and tone of voice as she continues "um, deserve mercy. Though... I wish that wasn't the case."

When she raises her head again to look at her partner, she notices the tengu looking forward with a frightened face, and when she looks toward the source of the fright, she gasps and frowns.

Zombie Yukari floats in front of them with a twisted smile that seems almost impossible to achieve with those dry and cracked lips, and keeps staring at them with those eyes of her, and even though her left eye is pushed inside the socket, the ghastly glow it emanates can be seen clearly.

Aya roars and starts shooting flashes, while Satori snaps out of her shock and shoots several beams.

The zombie opens her fan in front of her face and blocks all their attacks with ease, giggles and coos in a manner that paralyzes the girls with fear, then opens a gap underneath their feet once more, sending them plummeting into the void yet again.

She lowers her fan and giggles with malice while looking at the spot where the girls were, then jumps insider her own gap and disappears.

Inside the void, the girls wake up on what feels like a wooden surface, and as they slowly recover themselves, the tengu girl asks "S-Satori-chan? Are you there?"

"It's alright. I'm here," softly replies the mind-reader, giving her friend a great feeling of relief.

After they get up and rub the blur out of their eyes, they look around themselves and find they are inside the living room of a wooden cabin that floats inside the void.

They look out the windows from where they kneel and see purple clouds and several blinking eyes, then huddle up when a cold chill takes their senses, and Aya asks "um, Satori-chan?"

Satori gulps before looking at her friend, then nervously asks "wh-what is it?"

The tengu girl wraps her arms around her friend and nervously asks "d-d-do you know where we are?"

The mind-reader shakes her head, then points behind her friend and nervously says "n-not sure. B-but look. B-by the door."

To the left of the cabin's entrance is a silver plate with the words "Ward Here" written in bronze.

The frightened duo stare at the plate before their minds register they need to place a ward there, but being uncertain of their new location, and their destination, it takes them some time before they finally manage to move without dropping back to the floor due to weak knees.

Now, trapped inside a wooden cabin inside the void, all they can do is wait and see what fate that vile Yukari may have in store for them this time.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

OCT 25 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**First off, I really hope you are enjoying this new Gapped arc, and you can be certain the girls will visit at least two or three more locations before heading to the right direction.**

**Poor Satori. This chapter had her break because of zombie Koishi, but we can't blame her for that. I don't think even a youkai can kill a loved one and continue walking around as if nothing has happened. And Satori being an emotional character, I believe the impact hits her twice as hard. Good thing Aya is there. She's stronger in many ways, and thanks to her theme songs, Satori-chan is alright.**

**Oh well. Been having a LOT of problems with my internet providers, so the next updates (For both Icicle Sukima and Undying Gensokyo) might take even longer (maybe). Believe it or not, not having internet really saps my motivation and I end up playing games instead of writing. Ah well, until next chapter if the spirits will allow it.**


	12. Gapped  Endless Death

_Day Unknown, Right-side Room of The Cabin in The Void_

_Yes, you read right. The Void! Shameimaru here, and I am scared. I am very scared right now. This all started with us landing via-gap behind Satori-chan's mansion where I fought her little sister, almost got killed, Satori-chan finished Koishi off; cut her third eye off, stabbed her in the heart with a glass shard and flashed her hard; and then she just broke down. Though I seriously thought she was going to kill me and join her sister. Her eyes looked so... cold and distant. Anyway, I had to carry her out of her mansion, but before we left I decided to hum a song. Well guess what. Satori-chan recovered. Wish I had thought of that before, but whatever. Thankfully, she'll never find out I killed some of her zombie pets on the way out; hopefully. Anyways, getting out of the mansion wasn't enough, and we agreed on escaping the underground by means of an elevator at the end of the Ancient City. Oh, there were oni there, but they were surprisingly easy to deal with. This is just me, but it seemed that since they were recently transformed, they weren't as strong. That's a big MAYBE right there. Ugh, two of those oni, Yuugi and Suika; the tiny runt; were plenty strong, and were guarding this disgusting ball of organs that were dripping disgusting things into a bottle, and honestly I am still disgusted just thinking about it. So disgusting. Um, anyway, thanks to the little zombie oni with a temper, we found the controls to the shut-down elevator, turned it on, then went straight to it, fighting perverted spirits that wanted to do things to us, weak but annoying fairies, and one zombie jealousy youkai by the name of Parsee. But, um... well, the thing is, after we turned on the elevator, we saw Kogasa. She ran away from us, led us to the bridge, where we killed that jealousy zombie, who bit my damned ear off, then we got to the elevator. In all honesty, all I could see from Kogasa was her purple umbrella. The rest of her was all shadowed and stuff. Ah well, whatever, let me move on. Well, Kogasa dealt with all the zombies by the elevator for us and made our trip easier, and once at the top we found out she literally DESTROYED the zombies there. Like seriously, she went Yuka-style on their rotten asses. So, as we walked toward the exit, we came across this little youkai girl in a bucket called Kisume, who screamed in pain and begged us to kill her. Odd thing, though it LOOKED like she was a zombie already, from what we could tell, she had been turned very recently. She had those same symptoms as Yamame before she fully turned. I felt a bit depressed after killing her, but the exit was there, so me and Satori-chan pressed onward. But, of course, things can't be that easy! We came across zombie Rumia, and though she was weak, she still managed to trap us in darkness, kidnap me and take me back into the cave (after we were almost out too), where Satori-chan's beam and my own flashes finished her off, leaving me to fall on my back on those rocks. Well guess what! After all of that, Koishi came back! We had a quick fight and I killed her before she got too close to Satori-chan, then she asks me to take care of her big sister. Ugh, so depressing! Well, we continued our way out of the cave, killed many monsters that got in our way once we were outside, and then Yukari appeared, again! She gapped us here, into this cabin that floats in the void, and now we wait, uncertain of what will happen now. I am... so very scared right now._

Aya sits on a twin-sized bed with purple sheets inside a small room with a curtained window to its right side, but all there is to see through said window is the eyes and purple clouds that travel endlessly in the void.

She doesn't want to look outside, she doesn't even want to remember she's there, but even with those curtains covering that window, she can see flashes of purple and eyes through the small gap between the curtains.

The reporter groans and drops back on her bed, facing the ceiling as she rests her upper body on the middle of that bed while her legs hang by the edge of the mattress, and stares at the wooden beams supporting the ceiling, then says to herself "well, that meal was good. But I wonder if it was breakfast, lunch, or supper."

She turns over to face the right end of the bed, then notices the satori youkai standing over by the door above her head, to the left of the bed, stares with an upward glance and notices the bashful blushing face on the girl and asks "Satori-chan? What's the matter?"

The purple-haired girl glances around with those purple eyes and pink cheeks, and fiddles uncomfortably with her hands, making the perverted tengu nosebleed a bit, then hesitantly says "um, I-I think it was supper. Um, I can't sleep, so, er, can-can I stay here with you?"

Aya's smile widens to the point that the corner of her lips almost reach her ears after witnessing such an adorable scenery, and without actually realizing it, she nods while thinking "_oh, please stay here with me Satori-chan! You're so cute Satori-chan!_"

"Um, th-thank you," hesitantly says the mind-reader, not sure of whether she should be afraid of that crow or not, but realizing it's the only one she has at the moment, she decides to take her chances.

She walks around the bed, drops to the right of her friend, and now two pair of legs dangle by the edge of the bed, while the two girls sigh loudly as their torsos rest on the mattress.

As they lie there, Shameimaru fights with her own mind as she keeps imagining Satori naked, though covered by some pink, red and white daisies that just happen to be on the image's frame.

The purple-haired girl giggles, and then says "if I wasn't so scared, I'd smack you on the head for that, Aya-chan."

The tengu blushes beet red and nervously giggles before saying "sorry about that, ha-ha. Um, I-I'm just nervous too, and want to, er, divert my thoughts. Yes, that's it."

The mind-reader sighs and says "it's ok," even though she's embarrassed about those thoughts, then asks "do you think we'll ever get out of here alive? Do... Do you think we'll be able to save our homes? We've... only failed so far."

The winged girl moans, tears start gathering around her eyes while feeling depression taking over her thoughts, and when she opens her mouth to speak, the cabin trembles, and soon after the girls start hearing a light whooshing noise coming from outside.

They looks at each other, jump out of the bed at the same time, pull each side of the curtain apart, then look outside at a misty world filled with dark and withered trees, dead flowers all over at large derelict shrine with a blue roof, and a dried-up pond in front of said building.

Satori gasps with wonderment and asks "where are we?"

After studying the area a little more, Aya chokes on herself in her attempt to gasp, then says "oh shit. The Netherworld!"

* * *

><p>The girls stand awestruck on the cabin's veranda, staring at the land before them.<p>

The Netherworld has never been a pleasant picnic spot for those still living, particularly because of those dark clouds, but never was it a silent and eerie world with greenish mist diminishing visibility all over, or a place where the gardens look like dried-up swamps, where the trees look like giant old toads with stone skins, or where the bodies of water look like poisonous purple bogs.

Hakugyokurou has also become a frightening shell of its former self, with holes all over the moss-covered walls, odd green liquids dripping from the fungi-filled roof, an unnerving silence coming from within its dark rooms, and the small garden in front is looking like a miniature swamp, with tentacles rising from the purple pond water.

Aya grabs Satori and cries "GET BACK INSIDE!", pulls her friend inside and shuts the cabin's door, quickly runs under the short square table at the small dining room to the right of the living room, and there she whimpers and cries with fright while hugging her knees.

The mind-reader finds herself getting up from the living room's floor and looks around to recover her bearings, then loudly asks "Aya? Aya-chan, what happened?"

As she looks around for the tengu, she finally takes notice how spacious the living room in front of the entrance door is, with its two-person purple couch in front of a square crimson rug, its well-stocked bookshelf to the right or it, and the indigo single person couch in front of the two-seater.

The dining room to the right is also spacious, though not as much as the kitchen to the back of it, which has a stove with an oven, a set of counters on top of three cabinets next to the window on the right wall, a pantry with elegant dishes on display, and a working black refrigerator to its left, on the left-side wall.

The dining room itself only has a short, but large square table with a small grill underneath for heating during the winter, and a few green cushions for kneeling or sitting comfortably.

Still, aside from the couch, the plate where the charm is set, the elegant dinner plates, refrigerator, rug, cushions, and couches, everything in the cabin is natural wood colored, and although now it's not the time, the mind-reading youkai can't help but wonder if she could add more color later.

The purple-haired girl finally finds her tengu friend shivering underneath the table, whimpering incoherently about zombie ghosts that never die, and wanting to stay still for three days.

Satori drops on her knees and crawls toward the winged girl, thinking it's best not to frighten her more, then anxiously whispers "Aya-chan, what's the matter? Please, tell me what's wrong!"

Aya moves her terrorized eyes to meet those cute purple eyes, manages to calm down a little bit, then says "it's the Netherworld! Satori-chan, the Netherworld is infected! That woman brought us here to DIE!"

"What? What are you talking about? Aya-chan, we've been getting in dangerous situations since this whole mess stared," insists the mind-reader as she tries to pull the girl out of hiding.

"Netherworld! It's full of ghosts! Ghosts are DEAD! We can't kill them! Yukari brought us here so that Yuyuko can **DEVOUR US WHOLE!**" exclaims the terrified bird girl as she baby-steps sideways away from the satori's reach, like an honest to goodness bird would.

The purple-haired girl grunts as she reaches for the tengu and says "but we've dealt with ghosts already! They take a few flashes, but they go down, just like the rest of the zombies!"

Aya continues to sidestep away from that hand she normally loves so much, then there's the sound of paper slipping on the ground, and the crow girl's instincts take over, stretches her wings, then tries to fly, but only manages to smash her head against the tabletop several times before stopping and moaning in pain.

Satori sighs and facepalms, then says "I would expect this from Okuu, but certainly not from you, Aya-chan."

She gets up on her feet and heads toward the door, where that sound came from, finds a folded piece of paper near it, and promptly picks it up and opens it.

After she studies the contents of the paper, she calls "Aya-chan, please look at this. I think they are instructions."

The nervous tengu girl whimpers while holding the bump on her head, slowly makes her way toward her friend, then looks at the open piece of paper and asks "what now?"

That piece of paper has the drawing of a crystal with two pyramid shapes seemingly glued together on the bottom of each, making them look like a dual triangle, with each pyramid marked by a red square, and underneath the drawing, written with blood, are the instructions "GET THEM TO GET INSIDE"

Promptly, they notice the square encasing the left-side pyramid begins to glow, and the word "NETHERWORLD" magically appears on top of it in scarlet letters.

Aya and Satori gulp, look at each other, then the surprisingly calm mind-reader sighs and says "that woman is playing games with us."

The reporter sighs, some color returns to her skin, and looking at her partner in the eyes she calmly says "I guess there's no choice. We'll have to find these pyramid thingies, or rot inside this cabin.

Satori smiles and says "wow that was a complete mood-changer you pulled just now."

Aya chuckles, sweats, and then nervously says "this is Yukari who's giving us instructions. Whether we want to or not, we're gonna end up doing it."

The mind-reader sighs, wraps her arm around the bird girl's neck and scratches the side of her head, making said tengu giggle contently, then says "well, it's my turn to help **you** out while we're here. I was a burden back at the Und... back at the cave, b-but I'll make it up to you."

Shameimaru turns her head too suddenly for Komeiji to react, softly bumps her forehead against her friend's, smiles, then says "you weren't a burden Satori-chan. Still, thank you. Please take good care of me."

The mind-reader smiles back, scratches the feathery-soft black hair some more, then sweetly says "I will."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, the girls finally leave the safety of the cabin, and head straight toward the eerie ghostly shrine.<p>

They head straight toward the front entrance in order to avoid getting any kinds of close to that tentacle pond, and feel as though the tentacles themselves are inviting them to get closer, but they wisely ignore this.

The moment the girls step on that veranda, Aya yelps in a high-pitched tone and whimpers "shit! There's something in there! SOMETHING'S MOVING INSIDE!"

Satori narrows her eyes to look inside the dark shrine; places her hands over her eyes to shield the bit of light from outside to take a better look, then says "are you sure? I don't see anything moving in there."

She straightens up and glances to the left at her friend and asks "seriously, what's the matter? Aya-chan, you're no coward, so why act like one now?"

The tengu begins to bring memories of the rumors about Yuyuko eating birds, and bird youkai while they are alive, then looks at her friend with a terrified expression and says "you can see them, I know! If we see that Yuyuko, Satori-chan, I don't CARE if that pyramid is in her stomach, we **RUN** like hell! **WE RUN!**"

The mind-reader stares at her friend with doubt in her eyes, but after seeing that memory of the pink-haired ghost eating the pink-haired night sparrow youkai whole, she nods and says "alright. We run."

The winged girl takes a breath of relief while holding her chest and says "good," then takes her camera on hand, gulps as she looks inside the ghost shrine, then says "alright. Let's go."

The girls walk through the broken front door and immediately come across the living room's short table, which has several rotten and unfinished meals on dirty plates, which surprises the tengu reporter a lot.

"Eww. These cakes and cookies have mold on them," comments the satori youkai, while pinching her nose as she stares at the abandoned table.

"I'm surprised she actually left something on the plates," replies the winged girl while staring at the white plates with what may have been a rice and fish meal, which now looks like a green mound with a fish-shaped black lump, then also notices the rotten bird meat with maggots crawling on it, and some black goop the girls are guessing were the vegetables.

Although they want to look away and move on, the girls can't help but stare at the disgusting, foul smelling, rotting, unfinished feast on that table a little longer, before Satori unknowingly pulls Aya toward the kitchen on a sudden impulse.

Inside, they are assaulted by tick-sized flies, the smell of a hundred rotting zombies, the sight of rotten zombie legs of all shapes and sizes that hang on hooks from the ceiling while dripping blood, puss, and other questionable fluids from the sword holes on them, and what looks like a recently prepared meal of minced black and brown meat, with a stomach on the side, stuffed with dead roaches, centipedes and dried worms.

Even though disgusted, disturbed, and downright terrorized at the sight, the girls manage to hold the contents of their own stomachs as each ready her flashing weapon and kill all those flies with one simultaneous blast.

Afterward, they can grimace at the dirty offensive counters, the broken stove, the sliced cabinet doors without hinges, and simultaneously say out loud "**I wish it were darker!**"

Aya pulls Satori back out of the kitchen and into the living room, looks around the brighter room and notices the empty bonsai tree vases, the broken paper ornaments, and a massive bloodstain on the left-side wall.

She forces her and her friend's sight toward the small dark corridor following the wall next to the kitchen, and says "THOSE are the rooms."

The mind-reader giggles nervously and says "sorry, sorry. It's just that I don't know this place," then whimpers sadly and says "I'm so sorry."

The perverted reporter would like nothing more than to imagine Satori's cute face as she apologizes, but she's getting more edgy, and just scratches the girl's purple hair while pushing her toward the dark rooms, and says "it's alright. Just keep your eyes peeled."

Tension rises as they are enveloped by the darkness in the corridor, and then the faint sound of an off-key piano playing outside begins to creep around them.

They reach the first room's sliding door to their left, then the jumpy bird girl grabs the wooden frame and slides that door open while shooting precaution flashes inside.

The room is empty, save for the destroyed and bloodied futon on the wooden floor, and the tatami mats scattered about the bedroom.

As Aya and Satori observe the inside of the room, they take notice that there are no drawers or a vanity, or even a closet, but because of the few green skirts with the ghost motifs on the bottom parts lying on the floor, and the sword-slashes on the ceiling, the tengu realizes this is Youmu's room.

"What kind of vile mistress is Yuyuko?" asks the tengu reporter while looking awestruck at the destroyed bedroom, then adds "there isn't even a chair or a drawer with a mirror for this poor girl!"

The satori maiden finishes looking around and says "I think those were destroyed. Look next to the window. You'll see what I mean."

Shameimaru looks to the left of the only window in the room and sees the dusty imprint of what looks like a wide drawer with something large and oval on top; possibly the mirror.

As she looks around the room and notice many more imprints around the walls, there is a sudden thump, and both girls immediately look toward the window and gasp at the sight of a ghostly piano with wings flying by.

Aya quickly pulls the mind-reader back to the corridor, shuts the sliding door, pushes herself against the opposing wall, and before her friend asks, she stammers "P-P-P-Prism-ri-rivers! The Prismriver Sisters!"

Satori does a quick read of the bird's heart and softly says "poltergeists? Don't be scared! I can take them on my own. Still, you're right. Best not get their attention while we search."

The tengu girl nods, grabs her friend by her hand, and then pulls her toward the next door, while thinking "_next it's Yuyuko's room. Be ready for anything!_"

Komeiji wants to reply, but in her fright, the reporter is already opening the door further to the right of the corridor before either is ready, and both gasp in shock when they look inside.

The large master's bedroom has it's queen-sized bed intact, the vanity further in front perfectly cleaned and with two bright red candles lit to both sides of the round mirror, elegant red curtains cover the two windows; one by the bed, the other to the far left of the bed; and to the immediate right of the bed is a small end table with a large, spoiled glass of milk and rotting cookies on a plate.

After staring awestruck at the magnificent room, the tengu reporter groans, takes several pictures, and then angrily says "I knew it! Yuyuko's room is fit for a queen!"

The satori youkai nods and sighs "poor Miss Youmu. No wonder she looks so depressed in your memories."

As they keep looking around the room and start exploring the large walk-in closet next to the room's entrance, the girls fail to notice the faint sound of that off-key piano getting closer to them.

They reach the elegant vanity, and immediately start opening the drawers and search within, but when they fail to find anything, Aya groans and says "I was so sure it'd be here!"

Satori takes a light breath of air before thinking of something comforting to say, then realizes she's hearing thumps, off-tone music, and a light whoosh.

She looks around the room, and when she fails to see anything, she says "um, Aya-chan. Have you noticed nothing has come to attack us all this time?"

The tengu girl doesn't respond, so the purple-haired girl looks to her friend and notices that terrified stare toward the center of the room, and asks "what's wrong?"

The shaky reporter points upward, and the satori gasps when she lays eyes on Lyrica Prismriver, whom aside from glowing too brightly, shows no signs of any type of mutations.

Her hair is still brown, though her eyes are glowing, but her red uniform and hat with the green shooting star on top look clean and neat, and her instrument, a glowing black keyboard with a pair of tiny wings on it, flies around her in the same manner as in the winged girl's memories.

The ghost girl remains where she is and stares back at the girls, while her keyboard starts playing an eerie off-key tune, and before either girl decides to attack, the ground begins to rumble and tremble hard.

The end table tumbles to the ground, spilling the milk and cookies, and revealing to the girls the crystal pyramid was inside the large glass of milk.

Aya smiles and points at the large crystal, and when she attempts to stumble toward it, Satori grabs her under the chest and pulls her away while screaming "MOVE!"

The very moment they touch the floor, a massive pale-skinned monster with a cylindrical body breaks through the wall behind the bed and swallows the pyramid, along with the wall, spoiled milk, rotten cookies, and the broken glass.

It moves too fast through the next wall, and all the girls can observe of the creature is the thin arms next to its massive head with a giant red mouth, red eyes, pink fur covering it's worm-like body, how blubbery lumps cover most if the creature, and the tiny legs at the end of the monster's tail covered by a stretched light-blue skirt.

Now, only half of Yuyuko's room remains, and while the girls are still on the bit of floor left, Lyrica floats a little higher in the sky.

The extremely anxious crow girl jumps to her feet from the ground, and grips her hair while screaming "no, no, **no, no dammit, NO!** She ate it! That bitch **ATE IT!** Oh, why the HELL did I have to say 'inside her STOMACH'?"

Satori gasps as she looks at Aya and exclaims "wait! That was Yuyuko?"

Before the girls can continue the discussion, Lyrica's piano starts playing rapidly, making an eerie tune as the notes lower and rise at a rapid pace, then three small spirit fairies with white skin, red glowing eyes and blade-like ghostly tails, surround and fly in circles around the poltergeist.

The reporter gulps and whimpers "dammit, how do we kill these ghosts?"

The mind-reader takes a deep breath, looks up with bravery in her eyes, and says "we flash them until they fall! Come on Aya-chan! We can do this!"

The crow girl is not too sure, but she stands her ground, hesitantly raises her camera, stands beside her partner, and now the two living girls face off against a poltergeist and three dancing spirits.

* * *

><p>As soon as Satori shoots the first flash and makes one of the spirit fairies screech, Lyrica raises her left hand, and the sounds start alternating intensity from left to right and back again.<p>

The sound alternation quickly confuses the girls, but Aya, being used to alternating sound due to her high-speed flying, quickly composes herself, and flashes one of the fairies just as it begins to coil its ghostly tail around the mind-reader's neck, and scares it away.

As soon as the purple-haired girl is free, she aims her third eye at Lyrica and shoots a vicious beam straight at the poltergeist.

Two of the fairies move in the beam's path and take the full blow of the shimmering shot, becoming mere squiggles in the air.

"Tch! Missed her, but at least I got two of those fairies," angrily comments Satori, while covering her ears.

The nervous tengu taps her friend on the shoulder, points up, then says "l-l-look! Something's happening up there!"

The two squiggles begin to wriggle and expand, and then both grow a pair of arms, a ghostly tail, a head, and finally their wings.

The ghost fairies are back, and soon take their positions around Lyrica, and then the winged girl screams "I KNEW IT! Ghosts are already dead! They can't be killed again!"

The satori youkai grits her teeth as she looks up at the restored spirits and thinks "_great, they are immune to the beams. That means we'll have to resort to flashes only, but Aya-chan is too distraught to realize that. I'll need to show her we can win._"

She studies the fairies' movements and how they protect the poltergeist by moving in a circle around her like she's some sort of atom, then smiles and says "Aya-chan, please, calm down and listen to me."

The trembling reporter looks at her friend with a hopeless face, then Satori confidently says "shoot as many bullets as you can and lure those fairies here. I'm going to show you something."

Shameimaru is not sure what to think of that plan, but she knows the alternating sound is starting to annoy her, so she just takes her fan on hand, and begins throwing red and blue orbs in tight rings at the ghosts.

The fairies immediately protect the smiling poltergeist from the shots, which get absorbed by their bodies, and slowly move toward the winged girl while straightening their tails into blades.

Komeiji's grin vanishes as she summons a bit more power, and just as the fairies are a step away from the reporter, who screams "um, Satori-chan, any moment now!" the mind-reader shoots a flash so bright, it reaches Lyrica all the way in the air.

Aya remains standing in place, with her hand frozen in the same position after the last swing, and just stares toward the poltergeist's direction.

The three fairies have become grey lumps that lie on the ground like rocks, while Lyrica silently and desperately rubs her eyes with her forearms.

The sound around the girls has returned to normal now that the ghostly girl is distracted, and to test out her ears, Satori breathes in and says "see! These ghosts **can** be brought down."

She glances around with wonderment, and then exclaims "YES! My ears aren't alternating anymore!"

The winged girl remains staring forward, finally glances down at the lumps that used to be the three ghosts, her lips slowly stretch to a confident smile, then looks at her partner and says "they can be beat! I-I don't have to be scared! We can beat them!"

The purple-haired mind-reader smiles back at her partner, nods, and then both girls swiftly turn those smiles toward the poltergeist on the sky, and raise their flashing weapons.

Lyrica stops rubbing her eyes, and the first thing she sees is the two living girls jumping high and shooting flashes at her.

She covers her eyes with her left arm and commands her keyboard to swing in front of her, as a weapon against the attacking girls.

This fails, for the girls are quickly pulled back to the ground before the instrument hits, the tengu falling a few moments after the satori youkai, because of gravity's pull, and zombie Reimu's seals.

"We almost got her! Just need to get closer," declares the now confident reporter.

"She doesn't seem like much! This should be easy for us," replies Komeiji, while bending her knees in preparation of the next jump.

The frustrated Lyrica snarls, grabs her chest and sinks her fingers inside her ghostly skin, then rips open herself in half, revealing something else underneath her own skin.

Underneath her ghostly body hid a physical one, with rotting greenish-grey skin, glowing green eyes, large horn-like antennas growing from her forehead, a few single strands of whitish-brown hair on her head, a thin mandible that's unable to close, allowing her blood to gush out at all times, long thin fingers with sharp tips, a buff torso, and small and thin hips and legs.

The monster falls with a thunderous thud on to the ground after it lands on an ornamental stone beside a dead tree, and roars furiously as the thick antennas coil their tips around the edges of the ghostly keyboard.

An eerie song begins to play, and the surprised girls finally snap out of their shock, look at each other, then the reporter says "they just **can't** make things simple anymore!"

The monstrous Lyrica roars to the sky, causing a strong tremor around herself and the girls, then aims those green eyes at her prey.

* * *

><p>The rotting monster stands on its hands and charges the girls while swinging her thin legs around, as though trying to impale one of the girls with those small, but sharp-looking leg tips, and as she moves, her keyboard plays off-key and off-tempo tunes that seems to reflect the creature's monstrosity.<p>

The girls find themselves running away from the charge, and shooting beams at the monster's eyes to slow it down, then both drop to the ground to the sides of a tree on instinct and avoid a sudden leg swipe from zombie Lyrica.

Aya lifts her face, looks at her friend, and wonders "hey, why did we even dodge that? Those tiny legs look harmless."

Before Satori can comment on that, the tree between them turns brown, slashes appear on its trunk, the slashes glow for a second, and the tree becomes dust before their very eyes.

The purple-haired girl gulps with fright, points at the tree, and then nervously says "that is why."

The girls quickly get on their feet and begin to run toward a massive dead tree on the back left side garden of Hakugyokurou, and quickly take notice of many formless, fairy-shaped, and headless beast-type spirits rushing toward them, the formless ones with blade-like tails like the fairies, and the beast-types with four set of small and sharp claws on each foot.

"Use flashes only," commands the satori youkai, and as she and her friend unknowingly run straight toward the Saigyou Ayakashi, they desperately try to escape this odd musical monster while fighting murderous spirits.

Their combined flashes kill one spirit at a time, thus slowing their progress down and allowing the musical monster to get closer.

The tengu girl grabs her fan on her left hand, wraps her right arm around the satori's waist, then lifts her left leg up and spins on it, and unleashes an insanely powerful gust of wind as she declares "Typhoon, Wind God Girl!"

The winds around the girls gets filled with red and blue orbs that, although do little damage to the ghosts and the monster, does an excellent job of pushing them all away with ease.

As they spin, Aya shouts "flash them! Don't stop shooting until the spell times out!"

The dazed Satori moans as she tries to make out where is up and down, but regardless of that, she lifts her armored third eye and starts flashing everywhere.

Lyrica quickly realizes the danger of being trapped, and used those long fingers and powerful arms to pull herself on the ground and escape the gales, and as soon as she's safely away from the winds and danmaku, she grabs her own mouth blood with her hands, smears it all over her face and antenna, and her keyboard starts playing the beginning of Phantom Ensemble.

Inside the swirling winds, the murderous spirits begin to sing sadly as the danmaku weakens them and Satori's flashes kill them off, one by one.

The girls cheer as the lamenting songs of the falling spirits lessen with every singing spirit fallen, until there are just two headless beasts spirits left as the spell times out.

The two spirits fall to the ground flat on their stomachs, and sing sadly to each other as they try to stumble back on their feet, but fail.

Aya slowly stops twirling around and places Satori on the ground, where the poor girl stumbles and falls on her butt, and then the tengu looks around for the remaining spirits.

She spots the lamenting creatures just a few feet ahead, still trying to stumble on their feet, and excitedly exclaims "come on! Let's finish them!" while rushing toward the creatures.

The mind-reader moans like a drunk while trying to get back up, but drops on her butt again when the world begins to spin yet again.

The reporter stands beside the creatures, glowers at them, raises her camera, then takes two shots of them, turning them to those grey stones and feeling satisfied about it.

She sighs her tension down and says "whew! That was a close one," then finally takes notice of Satori's daze, shrieks, and exclaims "Satori-chan! I'm coming!"

The winged girl flaps her wings after reaching her friend, and while helping her up she whispers "sorry. So sorry. I thought you were right behind me."

Komeiji's eyes move along with the world, but slowly recovers her bearings, moves her face to look at her friend, even though her eyes keep moving left and right, and says "it's alright. Ugh, but I'm still dizzy. I can see two of you."

Two thuds are followed by small tremors that come from behind the girls, and that's when they notice the music playing, and if the purple-haired girl wasn't so dizzy, she'd realize she isn't seeing double, and that beside the monstrous Lyrica stand two more figures.

She reads Shameimaru's mind and whispers "oh crap. All three," then raises her third eye, though is still not sure where to aim.

Lunasa Prismriver has a semi-physical body that glows with a faint purple aura, has a small chunk of hair on her crown only, her left eye has been covered by that purplish-blue skin of hers, and looks like a crusty, rotting pork leg, her right eye is just a sagging bit of white flesh hanging on the socket, her torso is also expanded, but not as much as Lyrica, her arms and legs look seemingly normal, and a hole on her stomach has a swirling concentration of black mucus that stays within her.

Merlin Prismriver has kept her hair and breasts intact, but the greenish-yellow glow coming from her sickly brown skin, and the unnatural height of the creature lets the girls know for certain there is nothing normal about this poltergeist.

Her right eye is covered by her skin, though the lump of flesh on that socket hints the eye might still be there, her left eye glows silver, her mouth has stretched to accommodate the jagged teeth and overgrown yellow fangs in her mouth, her left arm has grown long, her fingers have massive claws, and her left thigh has a deep cut that secrets black coagulated blood balls.

The two girls are cursed however, for the flesh covering their eyes has also grown a fleshy network of tubes that links them together; though gives them enough space to move about; and entwined in those vines are Lunasa's violin, and Merlin's trumpet.

The mind-reader's dizziness finally lifts, but when she lays eyes on the monsters before her, she wishes she was still seeing double.

She looks at her tengu friend and whispers "we have no choice. We must make a stand, even though I admit, I want to run away."

The reporter nods, looks at her partner, and after a loud gulp, she says "I'm with you on that one. I'd like nothing more than to run away, but it looks like we have no other choice."

The girls stand still and wait for either Prismriver to make their move, while said monsters begin to lick their lips, as though in expectance of a delicious meal.

* * *

><p>The girls observe as Lyrica approaches her sisters and uncoils the left antenna from her keyboard to wriggle it between the skin tubes linking Lunasa and Merlin, but Satori will not have it.<p>

She dashes toward the sisters on courageous impulse, ignoring Aya's pleas for her to get back, and once she's four feet away from the trio, she raises her third eye, packs as much power as she can inside a single orb of concentrated light, then shoots a large beam straight at the brown-haired monster girl.

The beam hits with a thunderous blast, and the monstrous Lyrica roars as said laser drills a hole through the left side of her chest and back, pushing out her stone-black heart and bits of ribs right out of her body.

The large poltergeist drops on her knees after the impact, then the other two monster girls react the same way her sister did, until her antenna slips from the web of fleshy tubes.

The mind-reader gasps after immediately understanding what that means, but finds herself running away when Lunasa and Merlin fly toward her, though slowly, and each raise their left arms, the blonde monster bearing a pair of bloody thorns that push out from beneath the skin of the palm of her hand.

Satori regroups with Aya and shoots a precautionary flash behind her, killing an invisible headless beast spirit, and after recovering from the surprise, she shouts "if we take one of the linked girls out, we take both, or maybe all three, if we let the other one link."

The tengu shakes her head and says "no way! If we let them join, something bad is going to happen! I felt that too when they were joining just a moment ago!"

The mind-reader gasps when she hears those words, and wonders why her friend didn't help her when she went on the offensive, but soon remembers how upset the crow girl is about the ghosts and decides to forget it.

She sighs, and then says "alright then! Let's move and shoot these two down, then take care of the keyboard monster girl."

The reporter nods and exclaims "agreed," then wraps her arm around her friend's waist, presses their bodies together while they face each other, and before either face flushes, she jumps backward and avoids a claw swipe that leaves blue cut marks in the air.

They land several feet away, then reluctantly let go of each other, the winged girl going as far as thinking "_well, that was comfortable,_" and making her partner blush.

The Prismriver monsters hiss and roar as they resume their march, now joined by their younger sibling, and the girls ready themselves to attack and move, but the monster trio begin to play their instruments, and cause a confusion of sounds for the girls.

Though they can see their targets in front, the alternating sounds, echoing tunes, and endless static confuse the girls and cause them to glance around needlessly.

Satori manages to focus enough to notice the linked monsters getting too close, and flashes the almost bald creature and causing her to stop and roar while covering her eyes, and affecting the trumpet ghost the same way.

Aya manages to focus after most of the confusing sounds stop, but notice too late the keyboard headed toward her, and gets struck on the side of the ribs by the hard instrument and stinging antenna.

When the satori youkai hears her friend yelp out in pain, she snarls, shoots several large orbs at Lyrica's monstrous face, and although causing no damage, the bit of smoke from the blasts give her the cover she needs to get close and flash the undead creature on the face, thus making her roar and back away.

The mind-reader rushes to her friend, softly asking "are you alright?", then notices the large bruise already forming around the tengu girl's ribs.

Shameimaru winces while holding the right side of her body with her hands, but manages to relax, let herself go, smile at her friend, and say "it's alright. It hurts, but I'll be fine. Now, let's move or we'll both get hurt."

Komeiji nods, then she and her partner quickly run toward the Saigyou Ayakashi, not knowing this blue tree is a dreaded youkai tree.

They stop in front of some large blue roots to face the monster trio, whom are now playing "Phantom Ensemble", and watch with horror as countless formless spirits gather behind them.

The girls glance at each other, and notice how their skins are pale, their eyes are filled with dread, yet they each hold their flashing items firmly on hand, and as if saying goodbye to each other, they both breathe in deeply, sigh, nod with resignation in their eyes, then turn to face the monsters and their countless minions.

Without hesitation, the girls start shooting flashes after flashes, turning spirits into stones and harming the Prismrivers, whom just stand there, roaring and covering their faces while they keep getting flashed over and over.

Spirit after spirit, the formless ghosts turn to lumps and don't even move, though some try defending themselves by lunging their sharp tails toward the girls, but they die before they can strike.

Noticing the lack of resistance, Aya loudly says "they're not even attacking! Satori-chan, should we run, or take them all out?"

The moment the winged girl stops talking, she drops to the ground, breathing as though exhausted and physically strained.

"Aya-chan!" calls Satori, stopping her attacks to assist her friend, but the moment she kneels next to the tengu, she feels her heart racing, her limbs begin to burn, her bones and joints ache as though suffering from a bad flu, and she drops to the ground beside her friend, feeling exhausted and out of energy.

Though weak and just about to black out, the girls watch as the monsters, and the ghosts closest to the dirt drop on the ground, where said ghosts slowly turn to dark lumps.

The Prismriver monsters groan as the inside of their bodies and skins wriggle and squirm, then dark-blue roots break through their skins, spilling blood, fresh organs, and black slime all over the ground.

The monsters stop groaning as though dead, and now the tengu realizes where they are, and the thought doesn't comfort the mind-reader.

Aya reaches for her friend and weakly calls "Satori. Sa-Saigyou... Ayakashi. We must... run."

The seemingly dead youkai tree is sentient once more, and is using its roots to drain the life force out of the monsters and the girls near its base, and from the collected energy, it grows a few pink leaves at the tip of its branches.

The girls breathe through their mouths, seeing as breathing normally is becoming impossible, then Satori reaches for Aya's hand, tries, but fails to speak, then slowly closes her eyes.

The two living girls, countless black lumps, and the head of Lyrica are now in the air after something explodes underneath the many bodies, and though semi-conscious, the satori and tengu think they are dead, and currently ascending to heaven.

* * *

><p>The girls and the monster's head crash-land on the lumpy ground to the right of the long stairs of the Netherworld, still close to the top stairs, where Lyrica's head bursts like an overinflated balloon, and all that blood and grey matter spills all over one of the many trees and the ground.<p>

Aya moans as she slowly recovers her senses, pushes herself up when she feels enough strength has returned to her, then gasps and immediately looks for her friend after recovering her bearings.

Satori moans and whimpers as she regains strength, but unlike the tengu, she doesn't want to test her limbs yet, since the memory of the pain in her joints and bones is still fresh.

"Satori-chan," desperately calls the reporter before swiftly crawling toward the purple-haired girl and pulling her shoulder to turn her around.

The mind-reader breathes in hard when the sudden jolt of fear from feeling the pain in her body is swiftly turned into relief when she realizes she's no longer hurting.

She opens her eyes, looks upon her friend's red eyes, smiles, and says "I'm not hurting anymore. Heh-heh! I'm alright."

The girl's smile turns into a frown, then points up toward the ghost shrine and shouts "your camera!"

Up on the trees is an odd greenish blur that keeps moving left and right, splits up and becomes a separate white and green pair of blurs moving adjacent to each other, then stop when they are on the tree right in front of the girls.

The tengu reporter gasps and snarls, springs herself and her friend on their feet, then remains glaring straight at her camera, which dangles by a black strap that's been newly installed by none other than Youmu Konpaku.

Youmu's human half has rock-grey skin with slimy yellow fluids dripping from her thighs, shoulders and neck, her hair stands on its tips and wriggles around like a cluster of snakes, her eyes glow bright white, her green outfit is missing the white under-clothes, thus leaving a lot of her decaying skin bare, and while on her right hand she holds her Hakurouken, the short sword, on her left she holds the reporter's upgraded camera.

Her ghost half, though completely grayish-white, has a green aura around her, her hair looks normal, though a little messy, her eyes are normal blue colored, from her mouth she dribbles a light-blue fluid constantly, and just like the human half, she not wearing her undergarments, but her ghostly dress covers her up well.

Aya continues glaring at Youmu, points at her, and then says "you, and that stupid Myon! Give me back my camera!"

Satori raises her third eye to prepare for battle, and says "I'll get that human zombie with my beams for you," then shoots several beams at the human-half girl, who just raises an eyebrow and jumps off the tree the very second the beams are about to touch her.

The moment the zombie lands on the ground, the speedy tengu girl jumps on her back, grips her neck, shouts "GIVE ME BACK MY CAMERA!", the zombie roars, then starts running around in short dashes in an attempt to knock the tengu down.

Meanwhile, the ghost half jumps down from the tree and starts zipping around the mind-reader, and although not as fast as zombie Youmu herself, she is still fast enough to confuse the still living girl.

The satori maiden tries to follow after the ghost, but after realizing she won't be able to do so, she clicks her tongue and says "I'll just shoot at random," then fires several strong flashes; one left, the other in front, another left, one right, and finally, one behind her.

She's not sure which flash got Myon, but she doesn't care, and prepares to flash the specter as it rubs its eyes and stumbles around for balance.

"Time to finish you off," mumbles Komeiji as she gets closer to the ghost, then raises her third eye so her flash reaches the Myon's eyes, then she shoots a powerful bright light that illuminates a large chunk of the area.

Meanwhile, Shameimaru continues holding on to the rotting neck of Youmu while trying to reach for her camera, at the same time as holding on tight, so as not to get flung by the zombie's continuous dashing.

Every time the zombie girl moves, the world around them becomes a stretched blur, and if the dash is long enough, all the blurs seem to merge around the girls and become a multicolored tube that can make even the misty and undead world into a sight to behold.

Aya is already used to seeing things like this, so she ignores the sight and focuses on reaching that treasured camera, which right now is the tengu's means of staying alive.

The winged girl feels disgusted as her own bare skin makes contact with Youmu's rotting, slimy flesh, all thanks to that hole on the right side of her shirt that exposes her bra, but regardless of that, she holds on tight and continues reaching for her precious item.

Youmu sprints back up the steps and heads toward her ghost half and the purple-haired girl, and seems will dash for a little while, so the black-haired girl reaches for that zombie's left hand.

The swordswoman sees the tengu's hand reaching forward and stabs the girl's forearm with her short sword, but Shameimaru pushes herself, ignoring the pain cursing her arm, grabs the camera by the new strap, immediately pulls it off the zombie's hand and straps it to her own, and flashes the springing monster on the face the second she gets her weapon back.

She jumps off Youmu using her shoulders like a platform, before said zombie smashes against the tree in front of Satori and the ghost half, then glides to her friend's side and while glaring at the ghost she shouts "stupid little bitch! I'll kill you without remorse for that!"

The mind-reader gasps when she looks at her friend's bleeding left arm and shouts "Aya-chan, are you alright?"

Her tengu friend smiles and nods, then casually says "it's going to heal, so don't worry. Now, we kill the ghost half, we kill both... I think."

Komeiji smiles back and says "well, she should be weak after I hit her so hard, so what are we waiting for? Let's get her," then gasps when she looks toward the destroyed tree and fails to see either Youmu or Myon.

After scanning the area around them for some time, the winged reporter places her hand on her chest and sighs, while the satori youkai gulps and says "I'm so sorry. I let them get away."

Aya smiles dearly as she approaches her friend, places a friendly hand on her shoulder, then says "don't apologize. I lost my target too. But don't worry Satori-chan, we'll run into them soon, I just know it."

Satori is not sure, but there's something very different about her friend, like she's more sure of what she's doing and saying, and somehow, this knowledge gives the emotional youkai a great sense of relief.

Her moment of relief is soon cut short when her friend says "heads-up," then she looks around and finds they are surrounded by an innumerable amount of formless, fairy, and beast-type spirits; with heads and without; that seem to have just popped out of the ground.

The winged girl gives her friend's shoulder a soft squeeze and smiles as she looks into her purple eyes and says "they're coming from the bottom. I'm sure we'll find something important there, but if you want, we can just go back to the cabin."

This convinces the mind-reader that her friend has changed a lot in just a mere moment.

Without even thinking too much about it, the reporter noticed where the ghosts came from, and deduced they are guarding something down there.

The purple-haired girl smiles back, shakes her head, then says "no, let's move on. Whatever's down there must be very important, which means it could aid us."

The girls continue looking at each other, giggle simultaneously, and then prepare their flashing weapons for another battle.

* * *

><p>The girls move down the stairs, heading toward the source of the so many spirits coming after them, while leaving behind them a scattered mess of grey lumps that used to be the infected ghosts.<p>

Regardless, for every ghost they finish, several more take their place, and the mind-reader is understandably terrified, particularly after noticing the insane number of spirits still ahead of them.

However, her reporter friend keeps calm, as if knowing everything is going to be alright, and keeps flashing spirits with skill, turning left, flashing, right, flashing, bending upward and flashing again.

She doesn't seem to mind that the LED lights on their upgraded items are glowing red, and just continues flashing everywhere she can, as fast as she can, and after glancing at her friend, she confidently says "don't worry! These upgrades are helping us knock them all with one shot!"

Satori's worry quickly leaves her when she realizes that not a single spirit has even come close to touch them, and with a confident smile on her face, she flashes what she can and replies "sorry, I was just distracted."

And so, they continue their slow descent through spirits that, even though try their best to take a bite off, or cut a limb from one of those living girls, get turned to lumps on the ground after a quick flash.

"**LOOK OUT**", shouts Aya, who jumps on her friend and knocks her on to the stone steps, where they roll down a few of those steps before stopping.

When the mind-reader tries to ask what happened, she gasps when she sees Youmu and Myon flying toward them at insane speeds, in the reporter's memory.

They both turn around, look around, and flash the spirits that get too close while looking for either the half human zombie, or the psychotic half-ghost flying near them at high speeds.

Aya flashes three formless and a few fairy spirits, and after they become lumps on the ground, she can see zombie Youmu heading her way with her swords ready for a cross strike, then shouts "beam in front of me!"

Satori shoots a beam in front of her partner without questioning and strikes the zombie on the face, making her roar out in pain and swoop up to avoid another beam.

The mind-reader flashes some beast-type monsters directly behind her, takes a few recuperating breaths as she and her winged friend stand back up, then says "this is insane. There are just too many spirits. What are we going to do?"

The reporter knows her partner is right, flashes Myon and a few headless beast spirits, forcing the human-shaped ghost to fly away, and then looks around at the dead trees all around them. An idea hits her.

"Over there," declares the black-haired girl, pointing toward a tree to their left, then begins to flash ghost after ghost, creating a parameter around that tree.

The satori youkai quickly catches up to her partner's plan, and immediately lends a helping hand and starts flashing spirits around the tree, accidentally flashing the zombie swordswoman on the face during her attempt to cut the mind-reader's head off.

The purple-haired girl blinks twice as her mind absorbs the significance of what she just did, then shudders and says "that girl with the swords is insanely fast, Aya-chan! She almost got me!"

The winged girl's face becomes ominous after hearing her friend say that, then jumps next to her and angrily says "keep close to me. I can keep up with her, so I'll make sure doesn't get close!"

Together, the girls work faster in making that parameter, and in just a minute they have that tree for themselves, though notice they have to work fast and execute the plan before the next wave of spirits gets close.

"Up," commands Aya, as she kneels in front of the tree, but then Satori hesitates and asks "are you sure?"

The tengu smiles and says "of course I'm sure. Now get on."

The mind-reading youkai quickly approaches her friend, climbs on her back for a piggyback ride, and then rapidly says "I'll do my best, but please let me know if either swordswoman is headed our way."

Shameimaru nods, then jumps on the tree's branches, feeling disgusted at the slimy feeling this tree's bark has, looks as far down the incline as she can, though that greenish mist and countless spirits hinder her vision, then jumps and glides over the multitude of spirits.

She takes her fan with her left hand and gently swings it behind her to pick up speed, then shouts "I'll land on the next tree and jump again so that these seals don't activate. Satori-chan, make sure to flash those that get too close."

Komeiji nods hard so that her friend can feel it, then says "again I remind you, tell me if you see that speedy swordswoman and her ghost. I can't keep up with them."

The tengu girl waves two fingers in the air to acknowledge her friend, and the purple-haired girl flashes three fairy spirits coming from the left.

She immediately turns right and flashes a few formless and beast-type ghosts, quickly faces back and kills yet another fairy, then the winged reporter shouts "Myon, to the right!"

Satori wastes no time in turning to the right, and while her friend lands on the next tree and jumps, she flashes her third eye using fifty percent of her power, hitting the ghost half so hard, she laments loudly as she is sent backwards to the right.

"Nice one," cheers Aya while flipping her right thumb up and almost dropping her strapped camera, and then shouts "another wave! Get ready!"

The satori maiden quickly turns her body around as fast and accurately as she can, and kills off countless spirits by the time her friend reaches the next tree, then excitedly says "hey, not too bad! At this rate, we'll have this place conquered soon!"

The tengu girl looks back, chuckles, then says "I've been telling you, Satori-chan. You are not a burden! You need to be more confident of yourself."

The mind-reader smiles at her friend, then that smile becomes a frightened frown as she shouts "AYA-CHAN!", then grabs her gliding friend by the shoulders and pulls to the right, saving the tengu from being beheaded by the ghostly Myon's swords, but causes the winged girl to lose control.

They both scream as they head straight to the next tree, and understanding where this will lead, Shameimaru abruptly turns around and swings her fan under her partner, then everything becomes confusing.

The world around them spins rapidly, they can hear a loud thud, but aren't sure what it is, the ground greets them both quickly, but the dirt kicked up hinders their vision further, and all they can do is flash to make sure no spirit gets too close.

Everything stops, very suddenly, and Satori finds herself opening her dizzy eyes and wondering where is she exactly.

The spirits are all backing away and creating a parameter around them, which confuses the dizzy girl, but she's more concerned in finding Aya, and making sure she is alright; and find her she does.

The tengu girl lies motionless on her stomach in front of the dead tree they crashed against, with her empty red eyes frozen open, but when the mind-reader realizes the girl isn't breathing, she feels the warmth of her body rapidly leaving her from her head to the tip of her toes.

"Aya?" she whimpers in a high-pitched tone of voice, unable to believe what she's seeing.

The tree in front of the black-haired girl has been broken in half, and yet it quickly rebuilds itself, though the dent left by the tengu's head remains, and seeing that dent makes the satori youkai realize what happened.

She places her hand as gently as she can on her friend's neck and quickly takes it back when she realizes it's broken.

Her breathing becomes fast as she desperately begs in her mind for her friend to be alive, and as her tears start forming under her eyes, she whimpers to herself "sh-she's a youkai. Satori, keep it together. You need to protect her body while she recovers. This shouldn't take too long."

Myon lands five feet away from the girls, and wastes no time in moving toward them while wailing a sad song as she raises the ghostly Roukanken above her head with both hands.

Satori snarls, and though her tears refuse to stop, she bravely steps forward and shoots some hearts in front of herself to slow the ghost down, then shoots a powerful flash at the ghost half, making her screech and back away, but even so, the spirit moves forward again.

The purple-haired girl's face fills with rage as she prepares more magic bullets, then is surprised when zombie Myon dashes left and jumps above her.

Komeiji forgets attacking and twirls left to avoid a downward thrust, letting the spirit to stab the sword on the ground, where it gets stuck.

The living girl seizes the moment, gets close, and screams "**go to hell!** Just die and go straight to **hell already!**" then shoots a flash at ninety percent power, creating a dome of light that expands far and wide.

The dome of light seems to continue shining brightly for a three seconds, before letting itself be absorbed by the ground, thus ending the sudden spell.

Using so much power at once leaves the girl winded and dropping on her knees, where she breathes hard as she sees a new spell card form on the ground, right before her very eyes.

She picks it up and weakly whispers "Light Sign, Luminaire? Good," then raises her head, using what little energy is left in her and softly calls "Aya-chan!"

The girl struggles to get on her feet while running, taking notice that her new spell has cleared such a wide radius of ghosts, she can't see any anywhere.

She ignores this as she rummages through her pocket for her small storage cube, switches the spell card for it, and immediately presses the button to pull out the last bottle of divine water she used, seeing as it's still relatively full.

She falls on her knees next to her friend and forces herself to turn that body around, making sure to align her limp neck while closing the girl's eyes after turning her over, then forces her mouth open.

She pours most of the water in the crow girl's mouth while whispering "come on... swallow," then sighs with relief when the crow girl's neck snaps back in its place, and the bird girl begins to breathe, though weakly.

The mind-reader takes the last bit of water for herself, recovering much of her strength after doing so, then breathes desperately, as though doing so for the first time.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes have passed, and Aya is still unconscious.<p>

Satori has knelt beside her friend, and is using her lap as a pillow for the girl's head as she gently combs her feathery-soft hair with her fingers, while softly saying "Aya-chan, you're so cute. Tee-hee, those long ears twitch when I touch them."

She doesn't get any response, mental or otherwise, then frowns, her lips tremble, then remembers the abrupt move she made the reporter do and thinks "_I should have steered her, but I got all upset again. What the hell is wrong with me? If she weren't a youkai, she'd be..._"

She begins to sob and whimper, then bends down as far as she can until her forehead touches the tengu's, her tears start to flow uncontrollably, she kisses she crow girl's forehead, then softly cries "I'm so sorry Aya. I caused you another injury. I'll be more careful with you, so please wake up! Please!"

The mind-reader unconsciously grabs her friend and holds her in a tight embrace, while combing the back of her head and sobbing on her shoulder, and asking her to wake up.

The satori youkai gasps and tenses up when she feels a hand touch the back of her head, but quickly relaxes when she feels warmth coming from that hand, then her chest starts feeling fuzzy when she feels the reporter's other hand return the hug she's giving.

The weak girl smiles as she slowly regains her consciousness, tightens her embrace on the jumpy youkai, then softly says "it wasn't your fault Satori-chan, so please don't beat yourself up. It was Youmu."

Komeiji pushes herself away from Shameimaru to look at those red eyes with her own bloodshot, tear-filled purple eyes, and noticing her confusion, the tengu smiles weakly and softly rubs her head.

Once the satori calms down a bit, the reporter says "it was really confusing, but I'll explain. When I trapped you inside those protective gales, that zombie jumped from behind the tree and cut the protection, **but** I managed to blow her to the ground and flash her a couple of times while you handled the spirits, but I made a mistake and you were headed straight for that branch, so I dove down with you."

The black-haired reporter looks at the tree, chuckles, and then says "I guess that's when I rammed against that tree there. Oh well, you're safe now, and that's what's important."

Satori jumps on Aya and starts punching her winged back lightly, while furiously crying "you idiot! You have to be more careful! *Sob* You have to stay safe! You can't go around and getting hurt for my sake! I hate it! I hate is when you get hurt! Stop getting hurt!"

The girl lets herself go and cries uncontrollably on the crow girl's shoulder, who looks a little surprised at first, but relaxes quickly and grips her friend's shoulder, then softly says "I'm sorry, I made a mistake. I'll be more careful, but you have to be more careful too. I too hate it when Satori-chan gets hurt. You know that."

The girls remain where they are, comforting each other with a much needed warm embrace, while Aya slowly recovers her strength.

After calming down again, Satori releases her friend and sits to her left, then looks to the ground and says "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

The tengu reporter, whom sits cross-legged, rubs her friend's head and happily says "it's alright, don't worry about it. Now, we have to do something. Youmu is still out there, and I'm guessing Myon is too."

The mind-reader gasps and exclaims "no, but wait! I hit that ghost hard! I used most of my power and even got a new spell card out of it! She can't be alive!"

Shameimaru points at the spot in front of themselves and says "that girl fell there. She's not there now, so she must have moved, which means her ghost half survived. They might be weak though, so we hit them hard next time. Also..."

She takes the note with the instructions they got earlier, shows it to her partner, then says "after that zombie stabbed me with that sword, I figured why we were told to get these crystals. Satori, we need them to open something up, so... this is just a wild guess, but I think Yukari might actually be helping us."

The purple-haired girl stares at her friend in disbelief, stares at the held letter and carefully reads the words "GET THEM TO GET INSIDE," then sighs and says "you're acting so confident now, it's hard to believe. But you're right, now that I look at that, it does seem like she's helping us. That is, **IF** she's the one that sent those instructions."

Aya smiles at her friend, folds and pockets the letter again, then gets on her feet and offers her hand to the satori while saying "come on. I believe I know where Yuyuko is at right now."

Satori accepts the helping hand and is easily pulled back on to her feet, where she tumbles on her friend's side, and after a quick apology, she smiles and says "I'll be fine when we reach that woman, so don't worry. I will help you."

The girls remain silent while looking at each other, then turn to face down the incline, and just as they are about to start walking, the mind-reader grabs her friend's hand, reclines against her shoulder, and asks "can we stay like this for a little longer?"

The winged girl stretches her wings and blushes, smiles bashfully, and even though she's still feeling a bit awkward, she nods and says "a-alright. I don't mind at all. It's... warmer here if we stay like this anyways."

And off they go, slowly making their way down the hill, walking to the left side of the long stairs, somehow feeling safer by staying behind the unlit stone lamps that adorn the otherwise plain stone steps.

* * *

><p>The girls continue to hold each other close by the time they reach the bottom of that hill, and after a long sigh from each, they stop.<p>

An unfitting scene, the two girls holding each other so lovingly while surrounded by a greenish mist, dead trees, rotting pieces of flesh littered on the ground, dark grey lumps that used to be spirits not too long ago, and an odd barrier to their lefts that makes it look like a squiggly black and greenish wall is preventing further passage.

They gasp when they finally notice they are stepping on guts, skins, blood, and other questionable and squishy things, then the tengu looks to the right, scowls, and says "she's near. Satori-chan, whatever happens, you continue flashing her until she's dead, understand? Whatever happens, you flash and survive!"

The mind-reader gets a little nervous after seeing her friend's idea play out in her mind, gulps down her fast-beating heart, then nods and says "I will. Just promise you'll be alright!"

Aya's confident grin is a clear indication of how sure she is of herself, and although most would find it annoying, Satori finds it reassuring, and now feels more comfortable with the reporter's plan.

The girls now hear the sound of a sobbing woman, coming from the direction the winged girl pointed to, so they step back up on the hill so as not to step on any more of those rotting pieces of biological matter as they move toward the source of the sobs.

It takes them less than a minute to see the frame of Yuyuko Saigyouji, kneeling on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood that spills from Lunasa's and Merlin's chewed up, and decapitated bodies.

"Wait, what the-? She's small?" questions Shameimaru when laying her eyes on the ghost princess, who quickly takes notice of the girls, stands, then stares at them with her teary face.

Yuyuko has her slim body once more. Her skin, though looks normal, is dark blue, her eyes are blood red, her hair has turned light pink, and seems to be a wisp instead of actual hair, her hands have grown a set of large claws and have become bony, and where her breasts should be, there are a set of wriggling red tentacles that screech when they open their jagged-toothed mouths on the base.

Those have completely destroyed to top part of the princess' dress, though it's not like she needs it, while her bottom is soaked in blood and smeared with the bits of flesh left behind by her devoured victims.

The girls gasp with surprise at the sight, and the crying ghost princess sniffles once more, then smiles and begins to coo while tilting her neck right and staring at the tengu reporter.

Aya feels the cold embrace of fear surge through her body, but she steels herself, and with a frown she stands her ground, lifts her strapped camera, and says "we have to make her transform into her real form!"

Satori nods, though is still hesitant about the plan, then prepares her third eye and says "I'll do my best once you're inside, but are you sure about this? You were so frightened before, and I don't want you to force yourself."

The tengu smiles and nods, wraps her arm around the mind-reader's head for a quick hug, then turns her attention toward zombie Yuyuko and notices those bloody eyes are on her, unblinking and hungry.

The winged girl waits not longer, shoots a flash, Yuyuko screeches and laments as she jumps away, then the reporter and her partner chase after the zombie ghost princess, hoping to finish her off quickly, or force her to transform.

One of the chest tentacles wraps itself around Aya's left calf when she gets too close, but the winged girl is quick enough to take her fan on hand and make a wind blade to cut that slimy red tentacle off.

Satori loses her temper, and rushes toward the ghost while flashing incessantly, but zombie Yuyuko's flailing claws catch her left shoulder, leaving three deep gashes on it, and causing the youkai girl to drop on her knees, wincing in pain.

The crow girl snarls furiously after she bursts forward with speed, then kicks the princess on the face and sends her flying several feet away, then quickly drops on her knees next to her partner and asks "are you alright? Does it hurt much?"

The mind-reader shakes her head, gasps once, and with some effort she fakes a calm smile and says "I'll be alright. It'll heal. Let's go, before she gets away."

Shameimaru knows the girl is lying, but also knows she's right about the monster woman, so she just nods, helps her friend up, and then resume the chase after the zombie.

When they reach Yuyuko again, several feet away, she's kneeling on the ground and crying again, sniffling while rubbing her nose on her left forearm, and holding her gurgling stomach with her right arm.

"This is it," comments the tengu girl before dashing toward the zombie ghost princess, and shouts "stay here and keep to the plan!"

Aya approaches the zombie princess, raises her camera, sure she's going to land the killing shot, and starts to choke as she feels her feet forcefully leaving the ground, regardless of her attempts to kick herself back down, then grips the surprisingly warm arm of Yuyuko, which grips her neck tight.

The twice-dead woman's stomach gurgles as she stares into the eyes of her catch, licks her lips, revealing a thin long tongue inside, then she slowly wraps her chest tentacles around the tengu's waist, legs, and neck.

Satori wants nothing more than to go and save her friend, but doing so will mess up the plans that reporter worked up, so she reluctantly stays still, and watches in horror.

Shameimaru believes the pain she will be feeling any moment soon will make her regret ever thinking of using herself as bait, but she is surprised when, instead of pain, feels relaxed and at ease when those tentacles grow tiny wriggling lumps on their undersides.

Zombie Yuyuko's stomach gurgles louder, the ghost princess smacks her lips when the crow girl begins to smile blissfully, then sets her prey on the ground, where she giggles while moving her head and legs around in a lazy manner.

The ghost princess smiles, closes her eyes, her breast tentacles retract and their mouths close off, then her body begins to bubble up and expand, her skin starts turning pale, then she opens her mouth and wails so loudly, the ground shakes violently enough to knock the satori maiden on her butt.

The zombie's body rapidly expands, and in just a few seconds she has become that giant worm-like monster, with pink fur on the top of its body, tiny arms and legs, a stretched skirt, red eyes, and a giant red mouth.

Satori whimpers when she sees that monster aim its mouth at her Aya, but that's the plan; make the monster grow, get eaten, take the crystal pyramid, and kill it from within.

The horrendous creature winds up, aiming its horrid mouth at the sedated tengu, then jumps all the way toward the satori, swallowing her up whole before the purple-haired girl even notices the abrupt change of targets.

Even though she's sedated, Aya sees what happened, her blissful feeling is replaced by deep sorrow, she begins to cry, and somehow she manages to screams "Sa... Satori-**CHAAAAAN!**"

She forces her heavy body to roll over and stand, and even though she doesn't feel her fingers, she still manages to shoot flashes after the worm, getting its attention and angrily grunting "over here. That's right, look at me, you **bitch!**"

Somehow, even though her hands and feet still feel numb, the winged girl stands solidly, and prepares her fingers around the camera's shutter while stretching her small black wings threateningly.

The monstrous Yuyuko roars and launches herself toward the tengu, and gets hammered by ten beams of light on ten different parts of her blubbery body, roaring as those spots burn up and sizzle.

The monster drops on the ground and writhes around, as though trying to stop the burning on its skin with the cool dirt, but the enraged reporter is not giving it the chance, and showers it with ten more beams.

"You were supposed to eat me! **Give me back MY Satori-chan!**" screams Aya at the top of her lungs, her hair lifting up on the back of her head as her rage escalates further.

Three tentacles sprout from the monster's head and lunge straight at the girl, but become perfect slices when they are about to touch the tengu with the maple-leaf fan on her hand.

Right after the tentacle slices thud on the ground, Shameimaru lifts a spell card, glowers at the giant monster, which seems it's had enough and wants to run away, then shouts "Whirl Sign, Maple Leaf Fan!"

She screams as though in pain as she swings her fan with every ounce of strength in her, resulting in a massive tornado, instead of the usual mid-sized one, and traps the large worm inside of it, where it spins around counterclockwise and roars, and although the winds cut its skin, it's too thick to cause any real damage.

The tengu reporter grunts and stomps her foot repeatedly when the feeling of helplessness fills her up, then says to herself "the tornado's not doing any damage, and my beams hurt it, but they're not like Satori-chan's. Think, Shameimaru, think of something..."

Somehow, she hears her Satori's voice inside her head calling for help, and without thinking much about it, she takes her camera and locks on ten beams and shoots, locks on ten more and shoots, then once again and shoots.

She watches with amazement as her own tornado absorbs the beams and starts glowing brighter with every wave, and the more it glows, the louder the giant worm roars, and as it begins to spin faster, it starts absorbing the endless greenish mist along with it.

The bright tornado is doing great damage, but it's still not enough, so Aya instinctively raises her fan, and begins twisting it in her hand and moving it around, then the tornado contorts and moves around, mimicking her own fan's movements, thus opening a hole on the worm's stomach and freeing the mind-reader, who screams as she falls to the ground below, along with some slimy yellow substances, as well as the Prismrivers' flesh and inner-body pieces.

The moment her dear friend is out of the worm's stomach, the angry tengu moves her fan to the right, moving the tornado away from the satori youkai, then twists the fan on her hand, causing the winds of light to pierce through the worm's skin and burn it from within.

The beams of light begin to creep their way inside the worm's head, and then Yuyuko's thunderous voice causes all to tremble violently as she shouts "**IF YOU KILL ME, THE NETHERWORLD GOES AS WELL!**"

The black-haired girl is not sure if that's a lie or not, but she's not taking the chances, so she turns her fan upright, forcing the worm out of the constricting winds, and up to the tornado's mouth, then swings the fan forward, thus throwing that giant worm so far away, it becomes a glistening star in the distance.

After the spell cancels out, Aya falls on her knees and breathes hard, exhausted after using so much power, then stares as a spell card materializes next to her left hand.

After recovering her breath, she picks up the card with a very shaky hand, and softly reads "Glowing Tornado from the Wind God? I should have thought of a better name."

She pockets the spell card, her camera, places her fan behind on her belt, then gets on her shaky legs and rushes toward the mind-reader, calling "Satori-chan, Satori-chan! Speak to me!"

She gets to her friend and drops on her knees to the left.

Satori lies on the ground, curled up and holding her stomach tightly, shivering and whimpering while refusing to open her eyes.

Aya sighs with relief when she sees her friend is alright, though covered in some nasty slime, and takes her storage cube on hand, searches for a half-filled bottle, and as she pours the water on her friend to clean her up and gently combs her hair, she smiles and softly says "it's alright, you're safe now."

The mind-reading youkai chokes and whimpers as she slowly turns her head toward her Aya's voice, slightly opens her eyes, smiles widely, then whispers "heh-heh. Aya-chan. I'm so glad."

She unwraps her right arm and presents the crystal pyramid, chuckles weakly, then softly says "mission accomplished; heh-heh."

Shameimaru can't contain her joy, loudly coos "**Satori-chan~**" and grabs her purple-haired friend with a bone-cracking hug around the neck, then, while Komeiji giggles and says "s-stop, that tickles," the crow girl gives her friend repeated kisses on the cheek and nose.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes later, after recovering enough strength, the girls make their way back up the stairs of the Netherworld, where the cabin awaits them.<p>

They talk amongst themselves and laugh happily, feeling relaxed because there hasn't been a single attack, what few trees near them don't cover much, so they can see far over a good distance, and the mist that covered the land is now gone, thanks to Aya's tornado of light, so if there is going to be an attack they will have a good heads-up.

Their smiling and giggling stop when they notice something odd from either side of them on the sky, then both stop and raise their flashing weapons, as they glare up the stairs.

At first, there is nothing there but the stone steps, then in the blink of an eye, zombies Youmu and Myon appear standing beside each other, mirroring all their moves as they sheath their swords and clap their hands together, raising their right hand slightly above the left and raising only two fingers on each hand, as though praying in some form of elegant ritual.

"Just flash them before they finish whatever they're doing," commands Satori, and she and her partner start flashing the zombie swordswoman and her ghost half, but quickly learn they are just wasting their efforts.

The half youkai and her ghost half begin to glow with a strange aquamarine aura-like flame that surrounds their entire bodies and absorb the flashes, and all the living girls can do is watch as those two bodies slowly merge into one.

To the girls' surprise, it's the ghost side that is becoming the base body, but soon their surprise becomes terror when those two bodies finish their fusion with an abrupt push.

The aura becomes brighter as the ghostly body begins to expand, black bladed spider legs grow from her back, her legs become a pair of reddish-white pincers, her arms grow a little longer, and now stands tall a fearsome ghost swordswoman with glowing red scowling eyes, pincers for legs, six sharp black spider legs, and a short and long Japanese sword on each hand.

The monster doesn't give the girls the chance to gawk any longer, and launches one of those thin black legs between them, successfully separating, and confusing them.

She goes straight for the satori youkai and swings her Roukanken with deadly accuracy.

The purple-haired girl somehow rolls away from the attack without even getting grazed, and once she feels she's far away enough, she stops on her back and flashes the monster in the eyes.

The ghostly monster screeches and laments while holding her eyes as though in great pain, letting the living girl know the effect of the flash seems to have doubled for the monster gardener.

"Aya-chan, she's weaker now!" shouts Satori, as she gets on her feet and runs away from the blinded, flailing ghost monster.

Shameimaru jumps on a nearby tree and springs off its branch, uses her wings to jump above the towering monster, then flashes her as many times as she can, taking the best angles possible for a face-shot, while confidently saying "oh yeah, that's it, that's it! Snarl for the camera! This will make it to the front page!"

The monstrous ghost laments as her eyes are being burned off by so many flashes, then lifts a leg and strikes the winged girl on the side, causing her to crash-land on the unforgiving ground.

Before the mind-reader even has the chance to call for her friend, that ghostly monster grips her with those pincers so tightly, she squeezes the air and blood out of her mouth, and then stabs her left shoulder with the long sword.

The poor girl tries to scream, but can only convulse and wait for the pain to stop, somehow.

"**You fucking bitch,**" roars the furious tengu girl, after swooping with her fan on hand and cutting the left pincer with a precise wind blade, then lands on the right pincer, flashes the ghost on the face before she stabs the reporter with one of those legs, then grabs her dear friend and glides further toward the bottom.

She sits the bleeding youkai against a tree, pulls out the sword, throws it away, and desperately calls "Satori-chan! Satori Komeiji, please answer me! Please!" but gets a whimpering sigh, and some more blood flowing down the girl's mouth and shoulder.

The crow girl panics, the panic becomes pure hatred toward the ghost, and as she turns around to face the hated monster, she ignores the several other spirits accompanying Youmu, and just rushes blindly to attack.

Her jump toward the monster is so strong, it's like she's flying straight at zombie Youmu at full force, and just as she's about to get hit by the short sword on the face, she swings her fan to create three small tornadoes, then shoots them all with beams.

They absorb the beams and glow, and even though they are bright enough, the furious crow girl keeps shooting more beams into them, until blades of light appear on the mouths of the twisting winds.

The countless spirits don't stand a glimmer of a chance, and become lumps before the tornadoes reach them due to the excess of light.

Youmu, however, take the bright tornadoes on, though hisses and laments as the light slowly burns her empty right hand off.

She uses her spider legs and jumps over the small tornadoes, and heads straight toward the mind-reader, intending to finish the girl off with impalement from one of those legs.

Aya sees what the ghost is planning, so she dashes as fast as she can and catches Satori off the ground, saving her from getting killed, then jumps high with the purple-haired girl still on her arms, and shoots a flash to her left, where the ghost girl suddenly appears.

The monstrous Youmu roars and hisses, then laments as she covers her eyes with her left arm, then manages to swat the tengu and mind-reader from the sky with a flailing spider leg.

The impact to the back of the reporter is so great, the weak satori maiden is flung toward the ghost, whom gladly catches her prey with her mouth and tries to bite down, but something stops her.

Komeiji grunts with each breath as she holds her third eye on her hand and aims is straight at the ghost's right eye, and has used the crystal pyramid to stop her jaw from closing down fully.

Just before flashing the monster, she growls inward and says "all of you monsters are just a pain in our side. Die! Die, die, **die! **Just die already and give us back our home!"

She flashes the ghost girl on the face, and an unexpected reaction occurs.

The ghost girl glows brightly, and Satori feels as she suddenly drops to the ground, but instead of crashing on the hard stone stairs, she falls on Aya's arms, and instinctively gives her dear friend a hug and a bloody kiss on the cheek, then weakly says "the pyramid is safe."

"Fuck that thing. Are **you** alright?" crudely asks the reporter, but the answer will have to wait when both their attentions turn toward the whistling coming from the tiny glow that was just a monstrous Youmu.

In its stead stands the translucent figure of Youmu Konpaku, wearing her usual attire, clean and pressed, her silver hair is a little messy, but looking normal, her eyes look normal and blue, and is emanating an innocent, but mature air about her.

She looks toward the girls, reaches for them, and in an instant, stands before them, passing her hands around either girl's body, cleaning all the blood off their dresses and skin and turning it into small butterflies that go straight up to Hakugyokurou after released.

Before any of the girls can ask, the half ghost girl shakes her head and angrily shouts "don't be so selfish, you two! Do you realize how hard this is for us as well? Do you have the slightest idea what all of this is doing to me, to Yuyuko-sama, to the Prismriver sisters, TO ALL OF US?"

The girls open their mouths, but are completely unable to say a word, and then notice how now, how everything around them is covered by a soft white light, and how the air smells so clean and pure.

The swordswoman presses her nose against Satori's and angrily says "asking us to die like that! Really, you should think before speaking!"

Aya has had enough, and then angrily asks "what the hell is your problem? You do realize the HELL your zombie selves have put us through? Do you even have the slightest idea of the things we've had to do, just to have this damned incident blow up in our faces when it's about to be solved?"

The mind-reader sighs and says "we are tired, hurt, we miss our lives. I am sorry if I offended you, but you must realize we are living in hell. And not the Yama's hell, or the one under my mansion. I mean a hell not fit even for the lowest, most vile scum that ever existed!"

Youmu backs away until she's back to her initial position, and then says "understand this. First, if it wasn't for Myon's sacrifice, I wouldn't even be talking to you right now. Second, most of us know what we are doing, but we cannot control our actions, no matter how hard we try."

The girls look confused at the half youkai, who continues "ever since the new Master took that cauldron, she's allowed us to get our minds back, but for some sick and twisted reason, she wants us all to act like insane monsters aiming to eat the living, or kill them for **HER** amusement! We all want out! That's why Yuyuko cries so much! She cries all the time, and there's NOTHING I can do for her!"

The living girls now look surprised and somewhat ashamed, then Shameimaru tries to say "bu... but we didn't-" but the half youkai interrupts her, angrily saying "well now you know!"

She paces for a short moment before stopping in her initial position, sighs after face palming, then says "this is very strenuous for us as well, not just you. We all want Gensokyo back to the way it was, and so I have been told to ask, no, to **beg** of you, stop the master! Spill that damned cauldron so we can get the sun back! Flash us all and kill us if you have to. It's only temporary anyway, just reach the Master and defeat her!"

The girls nod, unable to say a word out of shame, then Youmu continues "good. Now listen to me. A gap will open up below you in exactly twenty seconds. Your next destination will have the other piece of the key. Once you have that, you'll reach the Garden of the Sun. From there, you'll know where to go."

She sighs again, drops on the ground with a frustrated face and crosses her legs, then says "don't trust any of us anymore, not even that demon girl. She's being punished for helping you two, though she doesn't care. She's glad to have helped you. Don't trust Yukari either. She **will** try to kill you, eventually."

Youmu smiles, takes a deep breath, and then says "it's time. Please do what you must to get our homes back. Oh, and if you see the kappa girl, you can trust her, though keep some distance. Same as the karakasa and the flow-"

The silver-haired girl's words are cut short as the girls fall into a dark abyss, and now that they are armed with new knowledge, and Aya herself has been cleared of her confusion, the girls accept the task with more determination than before, though wonder what Youmu meant with trusting 'the flow'.

* * *

><p>And so they land, sitting on their knees on the small square rug, inside the cabin they are now feeling safer in.<p>

Aya and Satori remain staring at each other for almost five whole minutes, before the tengu finally says "um, some day, huh?"

Satori shakes her head to snap out of her own confusion, then nods and softly says "y-yeah. I, um, wasn't expecting all that."

They both stand up slowly, and then sit back down on the purple sofa behind them, and after another minute of awkward silence, the mind reader stands up and says "I'll go make us some tea."

While the satori youkai prepares the tea, the tengu reporter remains on the couch deep in thought, and while she thinks on what they have just learned at the Netherworld, her eyes fall on the crystal pyramid on the rug and whispers "a key..."

She spends so much time thinking so deeply, she's surprised when her friend comes to her with a cup of brown tea, and says "I agree. Somehow, we need to work faster than this. I mean... after what we just heard..."

Shameimaru looks at her friend while sipping some tea, swallows, then asks "what are your thoughts, Satori-chan?"

The mind-reader sighs, takes a sip of her tea and stares at the brown liquid while composing her thoughts, then says "I feel terrible for them. I shouldn't really care, but for some reason, just imagining myself in their shoes for even a second feels like I'd go insane."

She places her hand on her tengu friend's left thigh, looks at her in the eyes, and desperately whispers "we have to end this. We need to find this key and end this for good."

The reporter smiles sweetly as she gently places her hand on her friend's, and softly says "then I guess the next place this cabin lands, we go in there and look for that other key piece as fast as we can. But what about the zombies we find?"

The girls share uneasy looks as they both take their hands back, then Aya continues "fairies are just stupid. They will attack us regardless, but what of the youkai?"

Satori sighs, shakes her head, and then says "remember what Miss Youmu said. We have to kill them. It's only a temporary death anyway; however, I don't feel too comfortable killing others that don't really want to harm me."

After sipping a bit more tea, Aya smiles at her partner and says "well, they ARE trying to kill us, even if they don't want to. We have to take care of ourselves Satori-chan, or else, nobody will be able deal with this mess."

The mind-reader smiles, then says "you've been so confident and so sure of your thoughts lately. Thanks to that, I've been feeling a whole lot safer."

She raises an eyebrow after thinking for a moment, then angrily says "but you are still too risky! Please be more careful in the future!"

The winged girl chuckles, nods, and then says "sorry, I'll try to be more careful. I understand how terrible you must feel when I get hurt. I also feel terrible when I see you getting hurt. It makes me so mad, so you be more careful too."

The girls chuckle simultaneously, slowly reach for each others' hands, then look out the window, at the endless eyes staring back at them, and the purple clouds drifting underneath those.

Both girls squint their eyes when they both see something new spinning outside, then they get up, place their teacups on the rug, then walk toward that window near the couch to look outside.

Nothing, other than the eyes and purple clouds outside, then the girls scream with fright and drop to the ground when something smashes against the barrier protecting the window.

It's zombie Chen, and her face has been completely scratched off, leaving a deformed mass of sliced flesh with two large holes above two smaller holes, and a gaping mouth that spills a black substance without stop as she moans threateningly.

Her short hair is messy and so stained with blood, it almost looks black, her little red dress fails to hide the several bloody spots on her abdomen and chest, and the claws on her hands and legs have grown so long, she's having trouble controlling her own movements.

She hisses loudly, punches and scratches the barrier the ward has created around the cabin in a crazed rampage, and then she stops, looks up, and spins away over the cabin's roof.

The shocked girls on the floor watch as the zombie nekomata follows a larger spinning figure in yellow, white and blue, and after the initial scare has passed, the tengu girl gulps and says "those are Yukari's shikigamis. S-Satori-chan, this is getting a little too dangerous all of a sudden."

The mind-reader's heart beats so hard, she can feel how it smacks her ribs with every thump, yet she manages to nod, and reply in quick spits "yeah. I noticed. Intense power."

The frightened girls quickly crawl closer and hold each other tight, then Aya, as calmly as she can, says "this won't be easy, but I think I already know what to do with them."

Satori blubbers while trying to nod her shivering head, and then nervously says "I understand. You might be right though. We'll need to take them out before Yukari attacks... or we'll have no chance of defeating her when that time comes."

The girls remain huddled together on the ground, not daring to move for sake of the fright, and the fact that they are holding each other so closely.

Now they wait for the cabin to land on its next destination, still hesitant on what they must do, now that they know the zombies are aware of what they are doing, yet are unable to stop attacking.

The girls can't shake the feeling of unease over the thought of killing innocents, but understand they are the only hope of solving the mess Marisa started, and know they have to kill in order to survive, just like they have from the start.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

"Typhoon, Wind God Girl," was derived from "Whirlwind, Wind God Girl."

Satori's "Light Sign, Luminaire," was derived from Chrono Trigger's/Cross' "Luminaire" spell.

Aya's "Glowing Tornado from the Wind God" was created by Willie G.R., derived from "Whirl Sign, Maple Leaf Fan."

NOV 11 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so, Aya's confusion has been cut, thanks to the Hakurouken being stabbed on her arm. Good, because she's going to have to focus now that she and Satori know of the zombies being conscious. Man, that Master is a complete bitch, whoever she is ;).**

**That aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and hope I'll be able to post the next one faster. Not having net really sapped my motivation, but I got it back, thanks to an alternate net source. Ah well, wish me luck XD.**

**A Quick shout-out to the guys and gal at the Let's Danmaku forums, and thanks to Captain Vulcan. Your comment on the preview helped me think up a very good scene for this chapter.**


	13. Gapped  Twice the Run

_Day Still Unknown, Right-side Room of The Cabin in The Void_

_And we are back here, heading to who knows where, searching for these crystal pyramids that fit in your hands, so that we may "GET INSIDE" somewhere. You see, we were dropped at the Netherworld, where I almost lost my mind when I thought Yukari tossed us in there to die, but I was wrong. Well, it all started with us going into the ghostly shrine and finding the pyramid there, inside a glass of disgusting spoiled milk. Well, the thing is that, before we could get it, Yuyuko, whom is a giant worm thing, gobbled it up, and I freaked out even more. And then one of the Prismrivers attacked us; the younger one; using spirits that took the shape of fairies to protect herself, and that's where Satori-chan taught me the spirits could be killed. Yes, I was afraid because I thought the ghosts could not be killed, seeing as they were dead already, even after Satori reminded me we had dealt with them before. Anyway, Lyrica revealed her real body to us after we killed her spirits, and chased us until her sisters joined her. Oh, and Lunasa and Merlin were linked by this fleshy network thing. Well, they made us run toward this very big blue tree, and then all of a sudden, we all (yes, I mean spirits, and us live girls) started feeling very weak, and I swear, I thought we were dead. Well, Youmu blasted us, saving us from death from the Saigyou Ayakashi, and stealing my camera afterward. Well, as you may have guessed, I got my camera back and scared Youmu and her ghost half, Myon, away, with Satori-chan's help, but before that happened I got cut by her short sword and all my confusions just... vanished. Thanks to that, we figured Yuyuko was on the bottom of that massive incline and went there, with some hindrances on the way, of course. Youmu and Myon were giving us a harder time, joining the so many spirits that were attacking us already, and successfully killed me. Yeah, while we were gliding, Satori-chan tried to save me from getting beheaded by Myon, but I had to save her from being beheaded by Youmu, but that cost me breaking my neck in half. Well, Satori saved me, got this spell card that REALLY drains her, but with it, she cleared the whole Netherworld of the spirits, then healed my body and took care of me while I recovered. Umm... and after that... No, that's personal. Sorry. Um, anyway, we found Yuyuko, and she had her sorta-normal body, eating Lunasa and Merlin. Um, the thing is, she had these chopping mouths with tentacles for breasts, and that's what I call 'ruining a gorgeous body'. Anyways, I had a plan, and I made her turn back into her worm form so that she would eat me, and I could go get that pyramid. The plan turned on itself and she gobbled up Satori instead. I... Even sedated, I felt so damned angry, I got up and fought that fat bitch! I even got a new spell card, which takes a lot out of me, but takes a lot more off these zombies and monsters! Well, with Satori safe, and the key pyramid secure, we went back to the cabin, and were stopped by Youmu and Myon on the way. They merged, and the ghost half became the base body. The fight was hard, and Satori-chan got very hurt, the poor thing, but we won. What a bitter victory. Youmu somehow turned to her normal self (she mentioned something about Myon's sacrifice), healed our wounds, then she goes and tells us that ever since their new master came, they have all been conscious of what they have been doing, but they are forced to act like mindless zombies. She then goes and says that we should still kill them and not trust them, right after throwing that bombshell on us. What are we supposed to do now? Well, Satori and I have decided to continue as we are, killing those zombies out of self defense, but we have also decided, it is time we move faster, which means that... that..._

Two drops of water fall on the piece of paper being written, then a sob escapes the black-haired reporter as she takes a closer look at her writing.

She stares at the small bit of paper left to write on, then says to herself "I don't want to do it, but it might be the only way."

Satori's hand reaches for Aya's bare shoulder, places itself on it and squeezes gently, and then the mind-reader says "we have no other choice, Aya-chan. We have to work faster, and to do so, we might end up getting separated."

The tengu girl shakes her head, moans loudly, and then says "we'll do this somehow, without getting separated. We have to stick together, understand!"

The satori youkai stares into her friend's frightened eyes, and would like nothing more than to speak truth, and tell her separation will be inevitable, however, her newfound level of love for the crow girl prevents her from doing this, and instead she holds her friend's head in a light embrace against her own chest, and softly says "alright. We do our very best, together, as we have done so far."

Shameimaru's comforting thoughts begin to fill Komeiji's own mind, and now guilt creeps into the satori's own when she begins to think "_I wish it were true too, and I hope we stay together all the time, but... Oh, I just hope my lie doesn't end up hurting you more, my dear Aya._"

* * *

><p>A few hours have passed, and the girls, feeling more relaxed, have prepared themselves a small feast of red meats, vegetable, rice, eggs, and tea.<p>

As they sit across each other around the table, Aya looks to her friend and asks "so you think those shikigami are still around here? Should we lure them to us?"

Satori shakes her head as she takes a nibble off her boiled egg, and after gulping down she says "I don't believe that will be necessary. I feel it. They will come get us when we least expect it, so we best be ready at all times."

The short-winged girl gulps her bit of tea hard, both surprised and frightened from that response, which she feels is truth, then nods and adds "and that's why I insist we remain together at all times. And if we do have to separate, let's make it as brief as possible."

Agreeing on this with a nod, both girls resume their meal, changing the subject, and talking about their hobbies, and what they will do after the incident is finally solved.

After they finish their meal and cleaned the dishes, the girls make their way to the living room, and maybe read to pass the time, but then the house makes a deafening thud and rattles violently inside, and after regaining their balance, the girls look around and say "**we're here!**"

They quickly head to the door, turn the knob, walk out to the veranda, where they are still protected by the ward, then look around and gasp in amazement.

The cabin feels like it's on solid ground, yet the girls find themselves in a vast blue, starless night sky, where a few lights of different colors fly about like comets, though upon closer inspection, they see the lights are actually wandering spirits that appear to be unaffected by the virus.

Aya keeps looking around with her mouth wide open, then finally closes her mouth, and hesitantly says "um, I... I think I know this place."

Satori holds the paper with the pyramid's picture on it, and before her partner can say any more, she says "look, this piece of paper says the next pyramid part is in the Myouren Temple."

She looks around, takes a step out of the safety of the ward's barrier, and says "odd that Yukari would send us somewhere else, if the piece we need is all the way back in **that** dark place."

Her partner places a hand on her shoulder to get her full attention, then says "Satori-chan, I think we are at the temple."

The mind-reader quickly reads the tengu's heart, then gasps lightly, and says "I see. We are underneath it."

The reporter nods, and then says "yes. This place is just like Reimu described it to me. This Great Mausoleum that rests beneath the Myouren Temple is not that big, and it should be abandoned, so maybe our search will be a quiet one."

Both girls now stand outside the safety of the cabin as they gawk around the seemingly endless space, then they both feel something happening behind them, and turn.

To their dismay, the cabin is gone, and after a nervous chuckle, Shameimaru nervously says "she took the cabin away. Yukari stranded us here without a safe spot."

The purple-haired girl sighs while rubbing her forehead with her index finger and thumb, and says "no choice but to move forward now, and pray that that Byakuren monster and her girls are all somewhere else."

The tengu reporter wraps her arm around her friend, comforting her confusion, and then says "well, forward we go my friend. Standing here will do us no good."

As if on cue, a set of hands, and a long stretched head on a thick neck that matches the color of the endless night sky, roar as they reach for the girls from the side, as if the sky was just a wall around them, and grabs the tengu by the wings and threatens to crush them.

Satori acts without thinking. She turns her torso around and shoots a bright flash, forcing the odd monster to release her friend, then she reaches for the grunting crow girl as she falls, grabs her under the chest, jumps away from the reaching hands, then flashes the creature again, breaking a hole on the sky-like image that looks like stream of blood.

Ignoring this, the mind-reader massages her friend's sore wings, and asks "are you alright, Aya-chan?"

The tengu moans as her wings are slowly soothed, and with a smile on her face, she says "that was... a pretty awesome move there, Satori-chan."

Komeiji chuckles lightly, rubs her friend's head, then says "it was nothing. What's important is that you're safe."

The black-haired girl wraps her arms around partner, spins with her to the right, pulls her camera out of her pocket, then shoots a flash straight at the next night-sky blue creature stretching its jagged-toothed face and sharp hands toward the satori youkai.

Another piece of the night sky breaks, and becomes a stream of blood, thought this one with black smudges around it, and right after recovering herself, the jumpy satori gulps and says "thank you. That one was close."

"Don't go thanking me yet. He have to get out of here, NOW!" commands the short-winged reporter while looking up at the large number of stretchy creatures, some being only hands or heads, others breaking themselves off the sky film, and as they moan and lament while reaching for the girls, the entire room loses its blue color.

The color red falls like a waterfall, taking over the beautifully peaceful dark blue, and now the entire room looks like one endless sea of blood and black clouds, the stretchy creatures grow thorns on their heads and hands, and begin a rapid descent toward the girls.

The still-living girls scream with fright and get on their feet as fast as they can, before beginning their run toward the single white spot glowing in the distance.

"That's the way out! Come on!" shouts Aya, grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her along to run toward what they can only hope is to safety.

As they run, the girls manage to turn around and flash those moaning monsters that get too close, noticing how they now look like horned and thorned blob monster made of clay, then take notice that, as they run toward their goal, star-shaped spots on the trail that look like pieces of the blue sky, get closer to them as they move.

Before reaching the first piece of blue, Satori twitches, then shouts "don't touch those!"

The girls manage to move left, away from that piece of blue, and avoid another stretchy monster, this one looking like a maid with a wide-brimmed sun hat on her short hair, and elbow gloves on her hands.

As the girls move on, the reporter flashes the woman trapped in that stretchy film trying to grab them, and exclaims "wow! That's Kana Anaberal! I thought Reimu said she went into a dream and never came out."

"You can worry about that detail later! Look," exclaims the mind-reader, while pointing forward.

Four of those blue star-shaped patches move toward them, set on the lower left and right, and upper left and right corners, leaving little room to pass through, but instead of panicking, Aya clicks her tongue and narrows her eyes before picking Satori and placing her on her back.

"Here we go," declares the tengu, kicking her feet hard on the ground and sprinting forward so fast, she quickly leaves behind the other creatures, and zips through the four patches with ease.

All four blue monsters spring out of hiding, bashing their heads together when they all reach for the center at the same time, though doing so far too late as the two girls are already on the other side of the white light.

The semi-wall those four creatures create causes their blood-red counterparts to crash to a halt, and gurgle and groan as their slimy pieces tangle with the pieces of their other counterparts all over the room.

* * *

><p>On the other side of the light, the girls find themselves on a dark floor with a massive pillar-shaped building behind them, with its windows flashing blood red, like lightning strikes from within, an even darker blue atmosphere around them, a natural blue stone wall to their right, but even with all of this around, they are far more concerned with what is in front of them.<p>

There is a girl's head with bloodstained hair that has a few random green strands, a recently-blown right eye still spilling a yellowish-red fluid, a grey left eye, and wearing a strange tall black hat with a rounded top and a blue charm on it.

The head is attached to a massive blob-like body, with stone-like grey lumpy skin that's riddled with craters, tentacles on the top, and yellow bolts of electricity running through its entirety.

The girls find themselves trapped by this monster, for its body is so large, even jumping over it would be impossible for them, especially with those anti-flight seals on their chests, and going around it is out of the question, seeing as they could get seriously burned by those vicious-looking bolts.

They both wait and see if the creature will do anything other than just sit there and whip its tentacles around, but when nothing happens, and the girl's face just looks away from them after taking notice of their presence, Satori sighs and asks "so? What should we do now?"

Aya looks around, hoping for a way around the building to avoid the creature, but when she takes a better look around, she notices the monster jumps to the other side of the wall to their right, after taking notice of the electric burns on the few stalactites that do reach close to the ground.

After thinking hard about it, she sighs and then her friend says "I understand. Even if we were to walk around to the other side of this wall, she'll jump over and block us, acting like a guardian."

"Which means," begins the tengu reporter as she takes her camera on hand, raises it chest high, and finishes "we'll have no other choice but to take her down, or we'll never be able to pass."

The girls raise their flashing items and ready to attack this creature, uncertain of what might happen when they do, but they both stop and stare up, fright evident on their faces, and take a few steps back when four dark figures appear right above the blob girl, one of those figures showing off a set of six demonic-looking wings, and having a pair of light-blue glowing eyes that shine in the darkness.

The winged figure flaps her wings once, and with a hissing, yet eerily motherly tone of voice, she says "you, don't bother Tojiko. You bother us, so you die, and I make you us."

The other three figures slowly descend next to the blob that is Tojiko Soga, revealing themselves to the girls, causing the reporter to gasp and exclaim "wait, you are all supposed to be in that infinite world! Senkai! Yeah, that's what Reimu called it! What are you doing here?"

Miko Toyosatomimi, whose platinum hair has become a solid set of sharp brown thorns growing on her head, looks straight at the tengu with those bloody, caved-in eye sockets, raises her right arm, which has dried patches of grey skin clinging on to her dried-up bones, points her wooden Chinese ceremonial baton at the girl, then grins to show her larva-infested mouth.

Her purple dress has a large black spot on the torso, which has also stained the broken white vest, making it look brownish-red, and something large can be seen moving underneath her shirt on her chest.

That's when Aya and Satori notice she's wearing the crystal pyramid around her neck on a red necklace, and immediately set their sights on their goal, though doing so while keeping an eye on the other monsters.

Futo Mononobe stands with her fully decayed arms crossed under her chest, a single strand of dry greyish-white skin hangs from her left elbow, the rest of her skin looks dark brown and slimy, staining her white outfit with some sickly yellowish-red substance, her left eye levitates near her forehead and moves the grey iris around until spotting the girls, her right eye appears to have teeth on the empty socket, and although her grey hair and odd tall dark-blue hat seem intact, several tiny things can be seen moving around underneath them.

She casually aims her face at the living girls, scoffs, and then turns her attention back to Tojiko, petting her head as though she were a pet.

The third figure is Seiga Kaku, and unlike her other three companions, she snarls and roars as she swipes her bleeding, bony, clawed hands in the air viciously, forcing herself to stop from moving forward, apparently for fear of the hidden figure above.

Her hair has turned greyish-blue, has become short, and hangs dead around her head, her eyes glow red, her drooling, elongated mouth is full of chrome, jagged teeth, her skin looks yellowish-orange, and seems to be covered with red sore spots, where white puss seems to pop occasionally, her breasts are filled with something that wriggles all over within that slimy skin, her teal dress is so stained with blood and pieces of skin, that the floral designs on it are practically invisible, and on her bony left leg, a red talisman glows as she moves around.

She keeps snarling and swiping her clawed hands in the air, takes a step toward the girls, but a bark from the figure above causes her to flinch and step back, then said figure says "you will not take key. It is **MINE**, and I keep it."

Right after saying those words, Satori and Aya raise their flashing weapons, and shoot beams and flashes as fast as they can, as constantly as they can, but they quickly realize that there is a magical barrier between them and the monster girls.

"Please, help us! Fight that master's control," begs the tengu girl, hoping to get a positive response in return after realizing the helpless situation they are in.

"We know you can hear us in there, so please, fight! Let us through, and give us that key! We can end this for you," adds the satori youkai, watching as doubt and confusion creeps into the eyes of all zombies present.

To the girls' dismay, that confusion is short lived, and Miko takes her necklace off, throws it up at the hidden woman, then said woman sadly says "I'm sorry. It... not easy."

Those six wings on the shadowy figure begin to glow, revealing red runes on them, then the figure claps, slowly and stiffly splits her hands and arms apart, and then a bright flash covers the entire area.

The girls slowly open their eyes and lower their arms, to make sure the bright light is gone, and immediately look around, quickly taking notice of some odd changes.

To Aya, her mind-reading friend, Miko and Futo look translucent, while the shadow figure, Tojiko and Seiga look solid.

To Satori, her crow tengu friend, Tojiko, Seiga, and the shadowy woman look translucent, while Miko and Futo look solid, and somehow, both seem to be staring silently and viciously back at her.

"What's going on now?" desperately asks the reporter, to which she receives a hissing cackle from the shadow woman, who lifts the crystal pyramid above her head, and says "after you become us, you together again are."

With those words, she vanishes in a swirling black vortex, ignoring the living girls' demands.

Before the girls can recompose, the monster girls, except for Tojiko, hiss and jump up back to the darkness, leaving their prey in a state of confusion, unsure of the fowl hand that's been played upon them.

* * *

><p>Having found a moment of respite, Aya reaches for her translucent friend, but quickly learns her hands go right through her, causing both to gasp, then the crow girl desperately says "what's going on? I can feel your warmth, but I can't touch you!"<p>

Satori slowly gives into anxiety and begins to whimper, while looking around for something that might comfort her, then says "I-I could feel your warmth too, but i-it doesn't make sense! What happened to us?"

As if looking for answers there, the mind-reader takes out and unfolds the paper containing the picture of the crystal pyramids, while the reporter stares at the electric blob monster, who stares right back, and smiles sinisterly.

The bird girl feels nervous when she notices that vile smile aimed at her, and gets worst when that blob girl tenses up and causes the sparks around her massive body to act up and buzz around more intensely.

Before she can say her nervous comment, the satori girl gasps and exclaims "Aya-chan, look! The pyramid!"

She holds the sheet open, knowing giving the piece of paper to her friend will be futile, and after failing to grasp the paper, as predicted, the winged girl shrieks and exclaims "what the hell? It's in Makai? Why is it in Makai?"

"I don't know," says Satori, while looking at the monstrous Tojiko, whom looks translucent to her, and adds "I'm starting to feel despair! We have to get out of here, and somehow reach this 'Makai'! It's just not fair! We wanted to hurry! Why this? Why now?"

Shameimaru wants to hold her partner and calm her down with her touch, and now begins to feel despair as well, having her partner so close, yet she's not there, and having had their goal so close, and now so far.

She manages to stop these saddening thoughts, places her right hand on her chest, closes her eyes while in deep thought, and when she opens them again, looking more calm and at peace, she says "Satori-chan, please listen to me, because I think I know what's going on, and I believe you can't read my mind, correct?"

The mind-reader quickly attempts reading her friend's mind, opens her eyes, now full of fear, then shrugs while rapidly shaking her head.

The reporter sighs and gestures her hands for her partner to calm down, then says "Reimu told me that while she and the others were here, they sometimes fell into this state of trance, where nothing could hurt her, but she could hurt back, twice as hard."

"She also mentioned that while in this state, the others couldn't touch her either, however..."

As the tengu continues, her mind wanders off for a moment, and then asks "how does the world look to you?"

"Like always," replies the purple-haired girl, to which her partner groans before replying "so I guess it's a little different. Let's try something though. Satori-chan, try walking past that Tojiko; but be careful though."

The youkai gulps, shivers as she turns her neck to face the translucent electric blob, then gulps again, settling herself after doing so, and says "alright. I think I know what you're getting at."

She takes a deep breath before taking off running, ignoring when her partner desperately shouts "no, WAIT! I said to be careful!" and as if nothing, she runs right past the giant blob and its sparks, looking back at it and staring at its swinging dual ghost tails, which seem to grow right out of a massive crater on its back.

She can hear her friend calling for her, over and over, so to ease her worries, she loudly calls "I'm alright! I'm right behind her, and I think I see a weak spot over here!"

Aya gasps with an excited smile on her face, places her hands on her chest as she exhales her held breath, and says to herself "oh thank the mountain goddesses," then cups her hands around her mouth and shouts "I don't know if you can harm her directly, but I'll get as close as I can and shoot her from the front, while you take the back!"

"You have three seconds to start," playfully, yet sternly calls Komeiji, making the reporter smile and say "I love that girl," before taking her camera on hand and getting closer to the large blob.

As soon as she gets in range, zombie Tojiko grins, and begins drooling a black slime from her mouth, spits it at the tengu girl, then shoots a zigzagging bolt of lightning to the dark ceiling, which quickly turns around and targets the winged girl.

Shameimaru yelps as she hops back to avoid the black slime from touching her legs, then screeches and drops on the ground to the left after noticing the bolt headed her way.

She pants as she gets back up and comments "glad I'm so fast. That was close!" then turns her attention to the electric blob, who begins to moan out loud as her own sparks enter through her mouth.

On the other side of the blocked road, Komeiji keeps shooting beam after beam with streams of hearts following after, that burn the monster's ghostly tails, and for some odd reason, cancels Tojiko's control over her own lightning.

The tengu reporter stares for a second, before seizing the chance she just got to get close, then begins to flash the monster straight in the eyes.

The zombie blob shoots her tentacles at the black-haired girl, being the one doing the most damage, but to the live girl's luck, those can't reach her by an inch, and with a vile grin on her face she takes one last shot and says "we're just better than you."

Tojiko doesn't go without a fight, and as her body begins to melt, she spits one last surprise blob of black slime that smacks the reporter on the face, cutting her breathing, threatening to suffocate the crow.

Satori quickly rushes to her friend, running on top of the deflated monster, feeling desperate and helpless when she tries to pull the slime and can't, but manages to calm herself enough to say "Aya-chan, listen to me, point your camera at yourself and **shoot.**"

Aya manages stop her attempts to pull the thick slime off with her right hand, slowly reaches for her camera dangling by the strap on her right wrist, carefully turns it around, then takes that photo just as she starts feeling dizzy.

The slime sizzles as it evaporates, and as soon as her mouth is free the tengu reporter gasps desperately and drops on her knees, coughing as her lungs are refilled with fresh air, and bits of that slime that got inside of her dribbles out of her mouth and nostrils.

The mind-reader kneels beside her and tries to hold her, only to have her hands pass right through, then gulps.

Her heart becomes heavy when she can't comfort her friend, so she just watches, sadly, as the winged girl continues squeezing her own chest while breathing in more revitalizing oxygen, and spitting more of that black slime.

* * *

><p>After the black-haired tengu recovers, her mind-reading friend sighs with relief, and says "that was so frightening."<p>

Aya wipes the bit of black slime from under her lips and nose, clears her throat, and then says "come on. We have to move and get that woman, and kill her if necessary to break that spell on you."

"Wait, Aya-chan," protests Satori, getting on her feet and trying to grab her friend's arm, to pull her back on the ground so she can rest some more, but when her hands go through her friend, she stops, looks down to the ground, and sighs sadly.

"Exactly my point," begins the reporter, before turning her neck to smile at her translucent friend and admitting "don't worry, I just feel a bit dizzy, but I'll recover."

The purple-haired girl smiles back, nods, and after she takes her first step toward her friend, said winged girl yelps, groans as she falls to the ground, and now the satori watches as zombie Miko rises from within that girl, smiling at the mind-reader, as though challenging her to a fight.

Seeing her dear friend fall to the ground and groan while holding her stomach ignites the satori's rage, and before the zombie even takes notice, the girl has already surrounded the monster with beams.

As those beams move, Satori roars as she dashes toward the monster girl, and shoots rapid flashes from her third eye, using ten percent of her power with each shot.

Miko roars and shrieks as those beams and flashes strike her on the face and bones, but instead of backing down, she swings her wooden baton and shoots countless arrows that burst into tiny blue bullets that make a circular formation while spreading apart, and blowing up all over the mind reading youkai.

The girl winces and hugs herself tight, shivering as her body assimilates with the burning pain she's feeling from the bullet bursts, forces herself to lift her head and calls "Aya-cha-" but quickly discovers the body of her friend is not there.

Worry courses through the girl, but at the same time, relief soothes her when thinking her friend is probably safer now, so she decides to go on the offensive, and begins by unwrapping her arms from herself and shooting streams of pink shard bullets and hearts.

Miko seems unfazed, and casually swings her baton to shoot arrows, to try and counter the mind-reader's barrage, but quickly finds herself overwhelmed by the power of that girl's bullets.

She remains calm as those shards and hearts tear and destroy her clothes, revealing the massive hole on her chest, still surrounded by dry, red blood that stains her broken ribs, and simply swings her baton one more time to summon a shower of rusty knives.

Satori shrieks and stops shooting to try and move away from the blades, but is too late, and the rusty shower is already on her, and yelps when she feels those cold and rough knives breaking her skin.

To her surprise, though they feel cold and sting a little, the blades aren't doing any physical damage to her, but they still bother her.

The satori youkai hops back three times until she's clear of the knives, gathers energy and light in front of her third eye, then from behind zombie Miko, Aya shouts "bitch is going down! Hit her hard Satori-chan!" and shoots five beams that gather in front of the monster's chest, but do nothing.

The zombie girl smiles, many larvae jump out of her mouth and crawl toward both girls, a tentacle with her dried heart reaches for the tengu's beams and consumes them, then the zombie pulls one of the spikes on her head, wraps a charm around its base, then throws it with all her might to the right wall, where it sticks up high.

Komeiji shoots her own beams, while taking steps away from the larva that continue to crawl toward her, and Shameimaru, after blasting her own crawling attackers into dust with a flash, rushes toward her friend to help.

Zombie Miko hisses while smiling as those ten bright beams rush to her from above, unsheathes her sword, and throws it toward the purple-haired girl, just before those beams pierce her skin, burn her from within, merge with Aya's own beams, then explode with bright fury, killing the monster quickly.

The sword goes right through the grunting tengu, whom is too busy flashing and stomping disgusting larvae to notice, stabs itself solidly in front of the satori's feet, and when the girl opens her mouth to ask what is that all about, eight thick and sharp green thorns appear to her sides in groups of four and clasp tight, trapping the girl between their sharp teeth-like ends.

The winged girl gasps hard upon the horrible crushing sound, her eyes fill with horrifying despair, and whimpers while raising her hand toward her friend.

No blood or actual wounds from where those thorns impaled the girl can be seen, but the pain she feels is real, it's endless, it's maddening, but all she can do is gasp, choke, and try and sob while flailing her free right arm around as it desperately searches for some relief.

Aya quickly remembers Miko's last move, looks to the right wall until she finds the thorn with the charm some thirty feet above the ground, and then desperately whimpers "h-hold u-on! I'll get you out!"

She doesn't want to do it, but she has to leave her friend alone to reach for that thorn and its charm.

Her legs feel numb and cold, her arms feel like thin icicles, her heart is beating too hard, yet she runs faster than she's ever ran on her two feet, and now stands below that spike and charm.

She unconsciously kicks off the air, but only eight feet up and she's already feeling the charm's and gravity's pull.

Shameimaru refuses to give in, flaps those short wings as hard as she can, and lifts herself twelve more feet.

Again, the floor pulls her, but she won't give up and flaps her wings hard again, groaning out loud as those tiny wings' muscles strain and the seal on her chest begins to burn her.

Another flap, and she screams when her back cracks loudly, yet she reaches for the spike, grips it tight, pulls it free, then its charm begins to shock her at the same time Reimu's seal continues to burn her.

As she falls, she fights with the pain of the shock as she removes the charm from the spike, succeeding quickly, roars as she stretches said charm from each side, using every ounce of her will to fight the horrible pain while breaking the stubborn charm to free her friend.

The girl screams again after ripping that charm in half and saving her friend from the gripping thorns, lands hard on her feet with the pressure of both gravity and the seal, then suddenly grips her own neck, squeezes it tight, looks up to the ceiling, and screams a bloody scream as her wings stretch out and slowly grow back to their normal size.

She ignores the horrible burning pain on her back and her re-grown wings, runs back to her friend, desperately calling "Satori-chan! Satori-chan, are you alright?"

The mind-reader lies on her back with empty, teary eyes, a ghostly pale face, and yet she looks at her Aya, smiles, and weakly whimpers "thank... you..." then weakly raises her shaky hand toward her friend.

The winged tengu smiles, ignores the horrible pain on her sore back and reaches for her translucent friend's hand, and by some miracle, their hands connect, a bright light surrounds them, and for some time, the blinding white light covers them both inside its warm protection.

The light fades when the purple-haired girl loses her consciousness, their hands slip off, and the tengu is left with bitter tears rolling down her cheeks as the pain on her back tortures her, and the pain in her heart for being unable to nurse her friend, mix together inside of her, yet she remains on her knees, keeping alert for any attacks.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes pass and Satori gasps and springs on her feet, calling "Aya-chan!"<p>

Shameimaru lifts her fully re-grown wings to get her friend's attention, smiles, and then says "Satori-chan, you're awake."

The mind-reader covers her mouth as she gasps, and whispers "your wings," then stands on her feet, scowls while looking around, turns her attention to her friend, and asks "can you move?"

The tengu nods, though her red cheeks and twitching eyes betray her composure, and noticing her pain, the satori exclaims "you're hurt!"

"It's nothing," groans the reporter, shaking her head and struggling to get on her feet, then begins to sweat and pant before grunting "I'll heal. We need to move, **now.**"

"But you need to rest," protests the mind-reader, as she tries and fails to push her friend to sit down.

A pained smile covers the reporter's face, which turns into a grimace when she picks up the large wings, then turns around and casually says "come on," and walks on Tojiko's body, heading toward the large door at the end of the only path visible to them.

Komeiji sighs irritably, angrily says to herself "need to be more careful, dammit. Fell for that trap so stupidly," then dashes after her winged friend, slowing to a walk when beside her.

Shameimaru, with great effort, pushes a pair of large rectangular doors open, and now she and her translucent friend find themselves in a dark and humid cavern.

The tengu reporter frowns after that stagnant air greets her nostrils, then says "dammit, a cave. We need to be careful."

The purple-haired girl gulps, raises her third eye, and then says "too late! They're here."

"Shit," curses the pained crow girl, upon looking at the solid Seiga, and the translucent Futo, the zombie hermit surrounded by zombie fairies, and the Taoist Shikaisen surrounded by three hooded spirits that glow green, one of them holding a scythe with a wisp-like bending on the end.

Aya raises her camera, snarling and growling furiously, overwhelmed by fear and pain, yet to her dear friend, she calmly says "I'm sorry I won't be able to help you. Please be safe."

Satori nods, takes a deep breath, then says "you too. Please be careful. That zombie looks vicious."

The tengu gulps, nods, then raises her camera and presses the button, beginning the fight she's not looking forward to take part of.

Zombie Seiga is already to the reporter's side, swiping her clawed hand at her neck, forcing the winged girl to duck and move her body in a manner that increases the throbbing pain coming from her back.

Satori jumps left as she shoots her flash, as if knowing of, and avoiding a bony spear hand attack by two of the spirits, then shoots another flash directly at zombie Futo, who rolls left to avoid a full impact from the flash, leaving her sticky bodily slime on the ground.

Again, the two hooded ghosts move in to kill the youkai with their bony, speared hands, but the mind-reader catches on, run toward the hooded figure with the scythe, it swings its weapon at her when she's in range, and she nimbly ducks, and hops away when safe.

The ghosts aren't as quick, and the spectral blade strikes them on the head, making them roar out in pain, revealing them to be skeletons with a few strands of hair hanging on their skulls.

Satori takes the chance, and quickly shoots ten beams, five for each ghost, and their roars become shrieks as the girl's light consumes their ghastly bodies until there is nothing left of them anywhere.

Aya jumps and shoots, avoiding the fairies' and Seiga's claws, and taking out one fairy at a time, and even with her current handicap, the tengu reporter has the upper hand.

She flashes left and right, taking out one fairy after another until there are only three left, but quickly notices the zombie hermit is missing.

Not one to ignore chances, Shameimaru locks her camera's beams on the fairies, and shoots them without question, and even while still in pain, noticeable in her slightly swollen eyes, she pumps her fist in the air as the last fairies fall to the ground and break into pieces, and cheers "that's right, bitches! Remember who's the top bird around here!"

Seiga jumps from behind the wall to the tengu's right, grips her pray's arms tight, then bites the bird girl on the right shoulder and viciously shakes her head.

The reporter gasps when she gets caught, and screams a bloody, deathly scream when those horribly sharp teeth pierce her skin and sinks in her bones.

She punches the monster's head, and gasps hard to recover her lost breath, just to scream again when that vicious zombie shakes her head like a rabid beast tearing its prey apart.

Aya's blood starts to flow like a stream and stains her clothes rapidly, but the zombie isn't satisfied by this, snarls, and shakes her head again, ripping more of the girl's flesh and scraping her very bones.

Satori gasps and immediately runs to aid her friend, but Futo jumps in front of her, shoots tiny spikes from her right eye socket, forces the mind-reader to retreat to avoid the attack, then the zombie jumps on a spectral boat and sails in the air, spreading tiny blue bullets as if they were water, and shooting magical arrows from her hand to add to her barrage.

The satori youkai can hear her friend screaming loudly just a few feet away, but can do nothing more than dodge bullets and shoot beams of light at the zombie in front of her.

The crow tengu's scream become agonizing moans as she feels her strength waning.

Her skin starts getting pale as her entire shirt keeps absorbing the blood that spills out of the wound the hermit continues to open wider.

No matter how many times you get your confusion cut by Hakurouken, the mind can only take so much before someone, even a youkai, breaks again.

Aya tries and tries shooting flashes at the vicious monster, but all she does is infuriate her attacker more, getting shaken around like a lump of meat, getting that wound open wider and those bones scraped some more.

Her mind finally blanks out when the pains from her back and shoulder mix inside her mind, and all she wants now is to somehow break free and run away, but her light punches and weak scratches can't help her.

Satori can see her partner's breaking spirit behind that curtain of bullets, and despair now takes her.

Her heart burns as she calls for the tengu and gets no response other than a drained groan; a last ditch effort to call for help; and as the satori gets surrounded by arrows and shards, she pulls a spell card from her skirt and declares "**MEMORY SIGN, TRAUMATIC LIFETIME!**"

The bullets surrounding her get consumed by the card's shockwave after activation, five massive orbs of blue light spread around zombie Futo, whom turns her head around so fast, black leeches fly out from underneath her hair, then those orbs disappear.

Zombie Futo smirks confidently, jumps off her boat and roars as she flies toward the purple-haired girl, then the blue orbs suddenly reappear and expand with such intensity, by the time the shikaisen reaches her target, she's already dead, her bony arms and hands cracking and breaking when they crash on the ground, and her eyeball breaking off and rolling away.

There is no time to celebrate, and Komeiji suppresses her own spell as she rushes toward the hermit and her tengu.

Aya is no longer screaming, and her camera dangles by the strap on her arm as she weakly flaps her wings in her desperate attempt to escape, but doing nothing else as her body weakens and slowly shuts itself down.

Satori flies through zombie Seiga's body, getting that monster's attention away from the tengu, then shoots five more of those massive blue orbs, though this time directs them straight at the hated enemy.

The mind-reader's face is intensely red with fury, and is using far more power than needed to control her spell, and just as the zombie feels she has to run away and tries to go through the wall, Komeiji raises her fist, roars, and the orbs of light expand within the monster girl, killing her long before she can even shriek.

After the deed is done and she cancels her spell, the mind-reader runs straight at her friend and wants nothing more that to nurse her, comfort her, but all the can do is kneel next to the girl.

She can see how the crow girl's eyes appear empty, and can sense how her magical aura wanes, then desperately does the only thing she can do, and shouts "Aya-chan, don't give up! You can't leave me alone! Please, come back! We promised to stay together!"

The last of the hooded spirits approaches the girls, and Satori gasps when she realizes she missed this one monster, so she stands on her feet, jumps in front of her friend, spreads her arms, and demands "get the hell away from here if you want to live!"

The figure stops moving, that black void under the hood remains fixed on the mind-reader, then the creature slowly reaches for the top of the hood with its skeletal left hand, and pulls the cover down, turning the satori's bravery into a desperate and helpless sensation after she gasps.

With her eyes open wide, and fear coursing through her body, she whispers "shinigami."

* * *

><p>Komachi Onozuka hovers before her pray; the right side of her face has thin brown flesh clinging on her skull, the skin on the left side of her face as been ripped off down to the neck, her bloodstained, light-pink hair hangs stiffly down to her shoulders, and now that her spectral appearance has left her, it is revealed that her feet have been chewed off, and only the stubble of her femurs remain, and her arms have absolutely no skin left, though some odd bumps that wriggle incessantly cling to those darkened ivory arms of hers.<p>

The zombie scythe-wielder opens her mouth, and with two voices, one of a girl, the other of a snarling monster, says "step aside, youkai. This one has no more time in that body."

Satori isn't sure what kind of madness has taken her, but her brave face returns as she shakes her head, then defiantly says "no! Get away from my Aya! Go haunt a shoebox or something, ghoul!"

Zombie Komachi roars as she raises her scythe above her head, and furiously shouts "my limited patience is running thin! If you will not move, then I'll take **you** as well!"

The sudden swing of that weapon comes accompanied by a pair of wind blades sharp enough to leave deep cut marks on the ground, yet as sharp as they are, they fail to catch either girl, for the satori youkai has found the strength to jump away, and use her own magic to grip her friend's aura, thus grabbing her body, and moves her away from harm.

The purple-haired girl glares at the shinigami, raises her third eye and reveals the bright energy gathered in front of the armor, then shoots her beams and spreads them.

The monster shinigami twirls her scythe and moves it around herself, blocking eight of the ten beams, and getting struck on the back by the last two.

She snarls at the youkai, both her eyes, even the empty skull socket on the left, glow blood red, and then she lunges straight at the mind-reader.

Satori stands firm, readies her third eye, and at the last possible moment she shoots a fifty-percent powered flash, augmented to one-hundred percent thanks to Nitori's upgrade, and jumps out of the way of the crashing Komachi, whom slides on the unforgiving and hard ground for seven feet.

The zombie pushes herself back up with her hands, spins once in the air, roars at the purple-haired girl, then goes for Aya to the right, forcing Satori to curse loudly out of spite "fucking bitch," while giving chase.

She reaches her friend's side the very moment zombie Komachi does, shoots hearts at the scythe, pushing it right out of the zombie's hands, then does the same as before; grabs her friend with her magic; then runs toward the light at the end of the cavern.

She skids to a halt, gently places the tengu on the ground, and then raises her hands as she prepares another barrage of bullets.

Zombie Komachi has easily cut their escape, but just floats there with her scythe resting lazily against her shoulder as she casually says "I will enjoy tearing yours and your friend's souls into tiny pieces with my bare hands."

The monster grunts, her body becomes stiff, she drops her scythe and raises her hands in front of her chest, then drops to the ground and begins to jump around while in a trance.

Behind her, the familiar face of Yoshika Miyako meets with the satori's eyes, and in her usual friendly tone, she Jiang Shi says "hello~! Say, that girl was a little bitter. I hope she wasn't your friend."

"Yoshika," exclaims Satori, feeling glad to see the zombie, and momentarily pondering of the irony of her current feelings, but after shrugging the thought away she looks at the hopping girl and asks "what are you doing here? I thought you were at the Myouren Temple."

"The temple?" asks the pale girl, glancing up to the ceiling while pondering for a moment before saying "but we're under the temple. In fact, the graveyard is at the end of this here tunnel."

Komeiji sweats and giggles with embarrassment, then says to herself "that's right. Aya told me that already."

Miyako then stares at the purple-haired girl, tilts her head left, and then asks "say, you look familiar. Do I know you?"

"Y-yes," hesitantly admits the satori. "We are your friends. The ones that opened the temple so you could eat, remember? Aya and Satori."

The Jiang Shi smiles, stiffly nods twice, says "oh yeah! You are those girls," then starts hopping her way further into the cavern, casually hopping by the purple-haired girl.

The mind-reader sighs, picks up her Aya again, then asks "and why are you here?"

Yoshika jumps in place twice while cooing after apparently finding something, then happily says "Master Seiga called me! She needed my help."

Satori starts to sweat, and slowly backs away while casually saying "you don't say? Well then, I guess we better be-"

She notices something moving behind the cute zombie, and after realizing what it is, she gasps and shouts "Yoshika, run!"

Before the Jiang Shi even knows what happened, her monstrous zombie master bites her left shoulder from behind, confusing her servant.

Desperate, the dark-blue haired girl cries "Master! Master Seiga, what are you doing?"

The vicious zombie rips the flesh right out of her servant's bones, and chews it with glee, while the confused Yoshika sobs and cries "why? What did I do? Master, was I bad? Please talk to me!"

Zombie Seiga slurps after finishing her meal, then turns on her servant once more, sinks her claws around the pale girl's waist, then gets her closer for the finishing bite.

The teary Jiang Shi scowls, takes the opportunity, bites her own master on the left cheek, taking a piece of that yelowish skin off, and after being dropped on her back on the ground, she angrily cries "**stupid master! That was not funny! Yoshika is mad!**"

The floor around the Jiang Shi begins to erupt in spurts, and Yoshika's body slowly sinks underneath.

As the pale zombie sinks her body under the ground, sticking her tongue out at Seiga, said vicious zombie girl starts jumping around along Komachi, growling desperately as she tries to break free of her current curse.

Satori sighs after things calm down again, looks at the spot on the ground Yoshika disappeared into, then says "that poor girl. She doesn't understand what's going on," then notices how Seiga's breasts start pulsating.

"Oh no," whispers the mind-reader, then quickly turns around, pick up her friend by the waist with her magic, and walks as fast as she can without dropping Aya.

The zombie's pulsating breasts explode, and screeching brown worms fly on all directions, and then quickly wriggle their speedy way toward the girls, opening the toothed mouths at them.

Komeiji pants, repeatedly says "we'll make it, Aya-chan! We're gonna make it!" then she suddenly finds herself floating in the void for what she feels are ten seconds, then falls on solid ground, inside somewhere too dark for her to tell whether she is safe, or not.

She quickly places Shameimaru on the ground, picks her storage cube from her skirt, takes out her flashlight, then looks around the dark cement room they are currently in.

No doors, no windows; just a carpet with some pillows on the ground of the square room.

The mind-reader sighs, rubs her face with both hands, and then whines "what the hell is this? Where are we now?"

* * *

><p>Aya finally wakes up, and the first thing she does is test her wings and touch her right shoulder.<p>

Right after testing her body, and realizing she is healed, a wide noise reaches her ears as she rubs her eyes, then gasps.

The place she is in is dark, and she can't even see her own hand in front of herself, but since she doesn't know where she is, she fears she's blind.

Her fear increases when she moves her neck and hands around as if trying to look and reach for something, then starts to sob, she can feel her eyes getting hot from her tears, and she softly cries "Satori? Satori-chan? Wh-where am I? Someone. Someone help me, please. I can't see!"

"Aya-chan?" comes that sweet and soft voice of Satori from the left, filling the upset tengu with immense levels of soothing relief, then a very dim light appears from a flashlight, but is enough to illuminate the face of the translucent mind-reader.

"Satori-chan! You're here," cries the crow girl, crawling close to her partner and trying to, but failing to give a hug to her dearest friend.

The mind-reader sighs, looks down the ground, and says "I'm sorry. I still can't touch you. I tried nursing you, but in this state, all I could do was watch over you."

"So that curse hasn't lifted," begins the tengu girl, who composes herself and asks "what happened in the cavern? Satori, where are we? How did we get here?"

Komeiji sighs, takes a deep breath, then begins to explain what happened after the tengu collapsed, how using her magic she managed to carry the crow girl around, how Yoshika came in time to save them from the zombie shinigami, and finally, how they ended up where they are now.

Shameimaru gulps, then sighs and says "at least I know I'm not blind. Er... and what about the bite?"

"Don't worry. You aren't infected, but Aya-chan, how are you feeling now? How's your back?" quickly replies the satori maiden.

Aya flaps her large black wings hard enough for her friend to hear, then softly says "nothing hurts... but..."

She hesitates to continue, lifts her hands and feels her camera's strap tug her writs, then picks it up and mumbles "glad this has a strap now," then her voice begins to crack as she says "that hurt. That hurt a lot. I'm scared. I want to go home and hide!"

There is a moment of silence and the wide noise from outside wherever they are becomes a little louder.

Curious, the tengu girl asks "say, Satori, where are we? And how long was I unconscious?"

The youkai girl sighs before answering "I don't know where we are, and from what I can tell, I think you've been sleeping for three days. I could be wrong, though."

The winged girl looks down to the floor, at what she hopes is the space between her legs in the darkness, and before the next question can be asked, there is a loud clank that startles the girls, then a door in front suddenly bursts open, forcing the girls to squint their eyes to protect themselves from the sudden burst of light.

Now the girls can see how the reporter's shirt looks brownish-red with all the blood that came from her shoulder dried up, and how her bra is now brown in color.

It quickly becomes clear to them that the wide noise they have been hearing is a rainstorm outside the dark room, after their eyes adjust to the light, and can see outside the darkness.

Though scared, the girls quickly get on their feet and rush to the door, then gasp with fright at the world they see.

They are currently in the center of a large cement city, where most buildings lie destroyed on the ground, replaced by massive dark spikes with streams of blood going through the black rocks.

The sky above is clear, yet it continues to rain like mad, and when they set their gaze further ahead in the sky, they both groan and slump at the sight of several misshapen demons flying around as if nothing was happening.

Some looks like giant dinosaurs with rocks tied to a strand of skin flowing out their derriere, others are gigantic fairies with rotten skulls for heads, or shriveled up to look like misshapen wraiths, some look like giant insects with melted human faces, but what all monsters share in common is the blood pattern of a triangle shrinking three times inside itself, with a dot on the center of the triangles, on the very center of their chests.

Before the obvious "where the hell are we" question is asked, the girls lay their eyes on a massive palace made to look like it's made of crystal over at the top of a mountain, which rests next to what looks like a giant frozen lake.

With that building over the distance on sight, Aya shivers and shakingly says "gods, dammit all. We're really in Makai after all."

* * *

><p>The girls remain inside that room and stare at the palace of Pandemonium over at the distance, then the mind-reader whispers "what do we do now?"<p>

The tengu girl is scared, evident in her shaking eyes, but she knows she and her friend have an important task, so she gulps hard to summon as much bravery as she can, then says "no choice but to look for that pyramid. There's no way I'm giving up, even if I'm..."

Satori strongly wishes to comfort her unsettled friend with a rub on the head, but knowing she can't tears her up from within, and so all she can do is say "I'll be here with you, Aya-chan, and I'll help you as best I can."

"No you're not! Not with this damned curse on you. It's like you're not there," angrily replies the tengu girl.

The mind-reader silently agrees with her friend, but so as not to add more unsettling feelings to either of them, she keeps it in her thoughts.

The winged girl sighs, covers her face with her hands, and says "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like-"

The dark room's roof explodes, and in the room's center stands tall a ball of fire that roars, and in an instant, that fire twirls as it consumes itself, until only a blonde girl is left.

Zombie Yuki snarls softly at her prey and stares at them with those fireballs for eyes.

Her blonde hair is singed and is missing a small patch on the left, her skin looks like burned carbon, she's missing many teeth from her slimy mouth, her left arm is a black wisp with poisonous claws, her right arm is constantly melting the blackened skin that keeps regenerating, what little bits are left of her clothes burn with the zombie's magical flames, thus keeping the hole that is her entire torso and the burned guts and singed bones inside her, bare to the world.

Before the girls can react, they flinch after a large rock lands between them, kicking up dust and dirt as it rolls inside, where the flaming zombie easily blasts it with a flame from her right arm, and then they look up after hearing an angry growl.

Above in front of the house floats zombie Luize, whose top of her head has been sliced off, leaving her head to gush out greyish-red fluids on what little strands of blonde hair remain on her, her dress is stained with blood, she wraps around her dried right arm the thin long innards of her victims, and her right leg is a skinless limb with a blade-like foot.

The girls now find themselves surrounded, and although the mind-reader could escape easily, thanks to her current condition, she remains with her partner as they ready themselves to fight for the lives, yet again.

Yuki ignites into a spiraling ball of fire and charges the girls, whom just hop away from the attack, and after going through the door, she continues her charge toward Luize.

The other zombie roars at the spiraling fire, raises her arms, punches the flaming monster back down, then screeches to the sky, getting the attention of a giant lizard and fairy couple that were flying by.

The lizard has purple skin with orange flaps growing around its neck, and aside from having short thin tentacles growing on its back; it looks like a purple T-Rex.

The giant fairy has little hair stubbles on the back of her neck, her head is missing the top of its skull, leaving her brain mass bare, her left eye dangles next to her sewn-shut mouth, her right eye has also been sewn shut, and her dark-blue dress is shredded all over, yet still covers her body well.

The girls yelp when zombie Yuki breaks through the wall after being sent back, then the mind-reader lifts her third eye and shoots several flashes before shrieking and jumping away from two green ethereal fireballs that do no physical damage to the wall, yet stain it black after they sizzle.

"She can shift physical and spiritual attacks," shouts Satori, lifting her right arm and shooting a stream of hearts at the flaming zombie.

Yuki flies away trough the hole on the roof, then Aya shouts "we have to get out of here, or we're going to get killed!"

Right after saying that, a black stone tied to a slimy, fleshy tube, breaks through the roof above Shameimaru's head, threatening to bury the girl under the rubble, but she manages to jump away before a larger chunk of ceiling falls on her, then runs straight outside, right into the rain.

The purple-haired youkai follows after her partner, and when the tengu notices her friend is close, she raises her right hand with the camera and shouts "get down!"

The youkai drops and rolls, the reporter shoots a bright flash, and the giant fairy behind her friend tries to screech and pulls back up, covering her rotten face with her hands.

Immediately after, zombie Yuki crashes back on to the ground, roars at the girls as her fire withdraws into her body, then swings her arms in round arcs in front of herself, and spreads several spiraling red and green fireballs that rush straight at the two still living girls.

Satori and Aya yelp and take off on their feet, but quickly find themselves trapped between the scorching fires and the top of a broken building.

The winged girl tries to grab her translucent friend to throw her to the air, but then roars with frustration after her hand goes right through the girl.

The mind-reader clicks her tongue, kicks off the ground, then takes flight before realizing what she has done.

Shameimaru gasps, stares in shock and surprise, then kicks off the ground just before getting blasted by the fireballs, flaps her large wings until she catches up to the confused satori, then asks "hey, how are you flying, you little cheat?"

Satori finally notices what she is doing, stammers a bit, but before she can ponder on the situation, Luize, riding on the flying dinosaur, flies between the girls and swings her bladed leg at the mind-reader, at the very same moment the seal on the reporter pulls her straight down.

The black-haired girl falls on her feet, thinks of jumping back up, but instead comes across zombie Yuki, who has made herself a cape of fire, and surrounds both arms in spiraling blue flames.

She ignites her feet with fire and charges straight at the reporter, unaware that said girl has her fan on hand, and before the flaming zombie is too close, she swings it hard and shuts the propelling flames down, knocking the flaming witch on to the ground.

In the air, the purple-haired girl flies around like an acrobat while shooting flashes at the giant fairy and lizard, and is uncertain of zombie Luize's current location.

She twirls right to avoid the disgusting derriere rock from the lizard, loops to avoid the fairy's tackle, gets behind said giant creature, then shoots ten packed beams that knock the monster down.

The fairy tries to scream, but her sewn-shut mouth prevents her from doing so, and falls straight to a massive fire pillar on the ground, where the roars from her throat serve as her desperate screams.

Watching that fairy burn inside that pillar gives Aya an idea, so she pulls out a spell card, shoots a few bullets to keep zombie Yuki away, and shouts "Satori-chan! Lure them here!", then raises her spell card and declares "Glowing Tornado from the Wind God!"

She swings her fan and creates a large tornado in front of herself, then jumps back to avoid a fireball and locks on to that twister ten times, then quickly shoots the beams.

The tornado absorbs the beams and begins to glow brightly, and moving her fan around, the reporter sends it straight at the giant fairy, finishing her off and sending her away in seconds.

Yuki sees what the attack can do, frowns with fright, and immediately tries to fly away, but she's already caught in the wind's powerful pull.

Meanwhile, in the sky, Satori sways left and right, avoiding zombie Luize's blade leg, and the disgusting lizard's odd purple spit.

She shoots a flash at the zombie girl, looks down at the bright tornado, and then dives toward it, shooting hearts at the monsters so they follow her.

When Aya notices her friend, she shouts "dive in! I'll let you out," then moves the tornado closer to the propelling Yuki, helping her partner get a better chance of getting inside the twister.

The mind-reader dives right in the center of the bright tornado, and the tengu reporter immediately places her right hand closer to her fan, makes a smooth upward motion, and a small opening allows the satori maiden to fly right out the lower part of the tornado, while zombie Luize and her pet dinosaur get trapped inside.

The tengu quickly closes the opening with another hand gesture, points her fan at zombie Yuki, who continues to push herself with her propelling fire, then traps her in the winds of light and shouts "Satori-chan, it needs a few more beams!"

The purple-haired girl looks a bit confused, but shrugs and says "alright, if she says so," and shoots ten more beams that get absorbed by the shiny tornado, making it even brighter, and causing the monsters inside to roar loudly for a second, then fall into silence.

Satori lands next to her friend as said girl gestures her fan in a circular manner, and watches as the bright tornado spits its victims far away.

Aya sees more monsters coming their way, points her fan at the three giant lizards and seven giant fairies, and the tornado immediately moves to where she pointed, traps the remaining monsters, and after the roaring and wailing from the surprised monsters stops, she flicks her fan and the twister spits out the monsters, then the girl takes a deep breath.

Her spell cancels out, she falls on the wet ground on her butt, breathing hard with exhaustion, and when her translucent friend sits beside her, she smiles and says "I'm so glad to have learned that spell when I did."

The mind-reader smiles, notices how the rain makes her friend's hair look cute as it hangs so wet around her neck and forehead, then giggles and says "you look really cute all wet like that. You remind me a little of Okuu, when I gave her those baths she hated so much."

The crow girl smiles and giggles along her partner, hiding the fact that those words have hurt her slightly.

To be compared by her Satori-chan as a pet hurts her, yet she's not entirely sure why.

She used to like it, but now it feels different, even going as far as to cause pain, and it seems the answer as to that particular riddle is locked away in her stinging heart.

* * *

><p>Minutes later, after catching their breaths, the girls decide to leave the city and head straight to Pandemonium, certain that they will find the stolen crystal pyramid there.<p>

Satori flies all the way toward the eerie crystal palace, feeling the fresh air caress her face and her hair like before, even though it's more of a spiritual, than physical wind.

To Aya, she still looks translucent, yet watches with amazement as her friend smiles while the wind plays with that purple hair, somehow enhancing her facial features.

The crow tengu uses her restored wings to glide for prolonged periods, but has to dive to solid ground and jump again, so that the seal doesn't burn her, or pull her down.

She chuckles after starting her glide again, and then says "look at these monsters. Ever since we took down those other guys, they've been running away from us."

Indeed, for every odd creature, be it a flier, fighter, magical, or otherwise, whenever they lay their eyes on the living girls, they snarl, roar, or hiss threateningly, but quickly run away and hide behind those mountainous thorns with bloody streams.

The reporter, after having suppressed her curiosity long enough, turns her head toward her dear friend, and asks "so, you think it's because your semi-physical that allows you to fly again?"

The mind-reader shrugs, unsure of what to think about her suddenly being able to fly, then says "that could be it. But considering what happened with your wings, perhaps it means the seals are weakening."

Something about that hits the crow-girl's chest with a sharp pain, and the image of Reimu lying permanently dead somewhere in Gensokyo fills her with dread, and with a shaky voice she says "n-no, that couldn't be it. T-that would mean Reimu is..."

The thought of that shrine maiden losing her life for real hurts the proud tengu, even if she tries to hide the fact with a weak smile.

Before her thoughts can course any further, the girls shriek as they force themselves to stop in mid-air, when a colossal block of ice with jagged edges and a flat top, falls in front of them and crashes on the frozen lake below, causing a splash after breaking through the water's ice, and freezing the water seconds after it rises.

At that moment Aya feels the pull of the charm, so she softens her wing flaps to slowly descend on top of the ice platform, well aware of the odd, long figure at the end of the platform.

Satori descends alongside her friend, scowling at the figure on the ice, and says "we should take this one out as fast as we can and move on."

The landing is a little rough for the tengu girl, but regardless of that, she's already prepared for battle with her camera on her right hand, and her maple fan on her left.

Satori lands to her right, readies a charged ball of light in front of her third eye, then looks at her friend and says "I'm here for you."

Some ten feet in front of them is a snake-like creature with a decaying human-like body on its upper half.

Zombie Mai has four red eyes, two on each round socket, her hair remains full and short, as it's always been, but is now adorned with an red ice tiara, obviously made out of blood, her fangs have grown too large for her blue lips to cover, her light-blue skin looks like a pruned wall of ice, she covers her chest with a wrapping of rotten intestines, from which dangle the severed rotting fingers of her many victims, her wings are a set of thin bones that once looked like demonic wings, and her arms have grown thin and long, and on the palm of each hand grows a sharp white thorn that splits into seven more thorns at the sides, adding to the ice gauntlets with bladed ends she's wearing.

The creature growls at the girls, hisses, then large thorns of ice and sharp snowflakes form above her head.

Before the battle begins, Satori says "Aya-chan, below," and the girls now take notice of a massive, rotting mountain of black flesh frozen within the giant icicle, connecting to the snake-like body, and breaking some slimy black tentacles through the thick cold sheet, adding another threat to this vile creature.

* * *

><p>The monstrous ice witch shoots the icicles and snowflakes straight at the reporter, moves her long body toward the mind-reader, raising her right hand to attack, and swings the two left tentacles to the cold ground.<p>

Aya tries to jump, but the ice makes her slip and fall on her butt, and now is at the mercy of the dangerous ice attacks.

Satori takes notice of her friend's dilemma, shoots a stream of hearts close to her, blasting her away from the icicles and snowflakes, then shoots her beams at the monster's left eyes, causing the creature to roar, pull herself back, and writhe in severe pain.

Safe from harm, the mind-reader looks to her friend, and shouts "use your beams to keep your distance! She's too dangerous up close!"

The tengu reporter struggles to stand on the slippery surface, nods while mid-way up on her feet, then rubs her sore butt before saying "right. I'll have to keep my balance here as well. What a pain."

Zombie Mai flaps her skeletal wings and roars, signaling she's recovered, and then lunges straight at the winged girl after shooting her right tentacles at the purple-haired girl.

Satori is confident those won't harm her, so she aims her beams at the lunging snake-like monster, but that costs her greatly and yelps when those black tentacles wrap themselves around her, freezing her inside a lump of ice almost immediately.

"Satori-cha-", gasps Aya before jumping away from Mai's thrusting gauntlet, and shooting a powerful flash at the back of the zombie's head.

She falls on the snake's back then gets thrown to the air when the monster girl raises her body in a fit of rage, but Shameimaru opens her wings and stops in the air before she's too far, then watches as zombie Mai ignores her and slowly goes for her partner.

Her stomach boils with fury as she watches that scene, and growls "you're not taking Satori-chan from me!" then flaps her wings and lunges herself straight at the monster's head.

Unaware of her attacker, the snake-like monster slowly gets closer to the frozen translucent girl, sticks out a long, thin, icy-blue, snake-like tongue, sticks it on the ice the satori is trapped in, and begins making a hole on its side with it.

Zombie Mai roars and pulls herself back, then drops her prize as she scratches her eye after the raging reporter stabs her second left eye with her sharp maple-leaf fan.

Aya slides on the icy surface after landing, then gasps with horror and tries to stop with all her might when she notices Satori's prison falling hard and fast to the ground below.

She has no fan to make winds, and she can't stop herself from sliding any further.

All she can do is scream Satori's name as she slides and watches that ice lump fall to the ground and shatter to pieces.

"**NOOOOOO!**" cries the black-haired girl as she runs in place for a moment, before finally getting some friction on those platforms and moving toward the broken shards.

She slides to a stop when she realizes there is nothing; no blood, not limbs, no Satori; in all that mess of broken ice.

She takes two desperate breaths before whimpering "Satori-chan?" then her attention turns to the roaring monster to her left.

Aya's eyes are completely out of focus as she turns them to that monster.

A dark shadow slowly forms under those red eyes as they begin to glow brighter when she opens her foaming mouth, showing her clenched teeth to the zombie.

She raises her camera with shaking hands, the back of her hair begins to lift on its own, and instead of fear, sadness or dread, the only feeling in her body is burning hatred.

The tengu roars as she runs toward the lunging snake, not missing a single step of her blind charge, and ignoring the sharp snowflakes cutting her cheeks, or the icicles stabbing her legs.

She's a mere inch away from getting bitten on the hip by zombie Mai when she jumps on the monster's body, and sink her left hand on that blue hair to remain where she is.

"You wanted to fuck with me? **THE COME AND FUCK WITH ME, YOU BITCH!**"

Shameimaru's primal rage screams mutes Mai's screeches as she hangs on tight to the zombie ice witch, who flings her body around in an attempt to flick her attacker off, but is unsuccessful.

Aya takes her camera firmly, stabs the lens in the monster's left eye, ignoring her falling fan after that eye socket explodes with brown fluids, then shouts "**I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE CONSCIOUS! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! JUST DIE! ALL OF YOU... JUST DIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!**"

She presses that camera shutter over and over, hanging tight so that Mai doesn't flick her off, even going as far as sinking her shoes inside the monster's gut for extra stability as she continues the assassination of that horrid creature.

The tentacles begin to explode, one by one, and slowly, zombie Mai winds down, and her body drops to the ground.

The tengu pulls her bloodied camera out of the eye socket, pulls her feet out of the monster's belly, and then jumps off the creature before it crashes on the icy ground.

The reporter watches with hateful eyes as that monster is slowly consumed by her own ice, and feeling satisfied after having brutally destroyed the zombie that killed her Satori, she groans as she drops down on her knees.

The glow in her eyes is replaced by the heat of her tears and swelling eyelids, her hatred is consumed by her sorrow, and after covering her face with her stained hands, she sobs.

The once proud crow tengu sobs away like a hurt human, and shortly after starting to cry she realizes how pathetic she must look, lifts her left hand and punches the ice so hard she makes a small cracked crater on it, and says to herself "what now? What am I supposed to do now? How can I go on like this? I'm all alone! I couldn't save her! Sh-she's gone!"

She hugs herself tight when her body starts convulsing along with her loud sobs, and now a sudden snowstorm hits and mixes with the incessant rain, but all Aya does is drop on her side on the unforgiving cold floor, and lets herself get covered by the snow and rain.

Before her body starts to freeze, she hears the familiar sound of her maple fan falling next to her.

Her curiosity wins over her sorrow, and sobbing, she lifts her head and looks to the left, where she sees the snow piling up in front of her, making the shape of her loved friend, standing there and looking down.

Aya hops on her knees and throws her hands toward the pile of snow, then smiles when she feels the warms of her friend inside that invisible frame, then exclaims "Satori-chan! **YOU'RE ALRIGHT!**"

The mind-reader nods, then shakes her head, kneels in front of her friend, then writes on the snow "TRAPPED BETWEEN SPIRIT AND PHYSICAL. HELP."

After the tengu girl reads the message, the invisible satori wipes it off, waits for more snow to pile up, and even with the rain making holes on the makeshift sheet, she manages to write "CURSE FROM PALACE. SCARED. LET'S GO."

Shameimaru shivers, struggles to get back up, aims her tired and swollen eyes toward what she hopes is her friend's eyes, then says "I can't see you, so please, stay close to me and let me know you are there, any way you can, as much as you can."

She receives a firm nod from the frame before her, spreads her wings after picking up her maple fan, then follows the last direction she sees Satori fly to, and heads straight toward Pandemonium with a severely unsettled heart.

* * *

><p>As they fly toward the Palace of Pandemonium, inside the space between the spiritual and physical, Satori flies around Aya, shooting hearts and laser beams at spirits, out-of-body monsters that look like eyeballs with wings, orange birds without feathers and having drills for beaks, and cylindrical monsters with four tiny, but extremely sharp fangs.<p>

The world around her looks dark, and further away it seems to be a mess of squiggly black lines breaking through a purple mist that covers the scarlet clouds.

Added to all of that, she can't talk while her body looks like a mess of purple and lilac zigzags inside her own frame.

All she can do is think, but she doesn't want to at the moment.

All she wants is to protect her dear Aya from all of those monsters invisible to her, and make sure she remains safe and focused on the task at hand.

The tengu girl lands right in front of the massive gates to the palace, and for a brief moment, she admires the black crystals that compose the frightening architecture.

The palace is about four stories tall, and the roof is made to look like several sharp blades that reach high to the sky.

The reporter sees a transparent squiggle land besides her, nods at it, then takes her fan on her left hand and declares "I don't care how fucking frightening this place is! I'm breaking this curse now!"

The furious reporter swings her fan and blows the left door from its hinges, it flies straight into the dark corridor, bounces off the right wall, then crashes through a window on the left, breaking a wider hole where an elegant arched window once was.

Immediately afterward, she swings her fan five times, creates five small stationary tornadoes, then quickly locks on, and shoots ten beams to each, turning them into bright twisting lights to both light her way through the palace, and to destroy any creature that may want to get in her way.

Her red eyes glow again, though this time she has a grin on her face, as she immediately comes across disgusting-smelling blob-like creatures, with greenish-yellow slime for skins, short arms with sharp fingers, and each have varied eyes; some having none, while others having up to five.

Around them are small ghoulish fairies that moan as the red skin on their lips melts endlessly, some have swollen black tongues, others hold sharp weapons in their skeletal hands, others vomit black or orange slime, and most fly around naked, revealing little, to no decaying brownish or grey skins.

Aya swings her fan around and sends one small tornado of light at a time toward the cluster of disgusting monsters and shouts "**no, I don't give a shit about your consciousness anymore! You all go to hell!**"

On the space between realms, Satori comes face to face with tiny wraith-like specters, some with their skulls with glowing red eyes visible, others with hoods, and other carrying either a scythe or a sword.

She can also see spots on the ground that have traps on them illuminated in orange, so to spare her friend from them, she moves ahead and sets them off, using her magic and aura to physically trigger them while fighting off the little wraiths.

On both sides of the realms, the girls easily plow through the monsters they come across, and thanks to her bright tornadoes, Aya finds levers that open the doors she needs in order to continue moving forward, while the cursed mind-reader trips the last trap that opens a side hole that leads to a bed of sharp thorns below.

Realizing her tengu friend is now safe from the wraiths, having dealt with all of them by herself, Satori's frame places her hand on her chest, mimics a sigh, and thinks "_I'll be going ahead now, Aya-chan. Please stay safe._"

Without a second thought, the girl between realms takes off on her own, taking notice that the next set of corridors and halls are empty of all but ornaments, tables, and portraits.

As she walks further, she notices the traps become less frequent, but more deadly, having blades on the ceiling, or pillars hidden behind walls to smash whatever comes between them, and something else.

To her eyes, what few traps remain share a thin orange line; a link; that leads straight toward a single lever several feet up on the farthest wall.

It doesn't take her long to figure out what that lever does, so the takes flight toward it to pull it and disable all the remaining traps, but is stopped by a taller woman's frame with lilac and red lines growing outward from its very middle.

The new figure raises her right hand next to her head, snaps her fingers, then everything around her and Satori regains its solid look, including the mind-reader herself, who gasps at the sight of the figure in front, which causes her to ignore the fact that she can talk again.

"Trespasser," softly says the zombie girl in front of the mind-reader.

Sara's eyes are completely black, almost making it seem like they are not there, her hair is thin and dull lilac, her dress remains red with a white scarf around the neck, the skirt part of the dress has been ripped apart, showing off her legs, and revealing that her skin is grey, though without a single visible flaw, letting the satori know this woman was the one who first brought the virus over to Makai.

The zombie points at Satori, and then softly says "not welcome. Must go. But hungry."

The mind-reader gulps after hearing that last word, takes a step back, and watches as the zombie girl's nails grow into claws, and gags when that woman opens her mouth and exhales a yellow gas cloud with a stomach-wrenching smell.

The sound of Aya fighting reaches Satori, and even though she cries from the nasty smell, she steels herself and says "no, I won't run now. She needs me, so I won't let her down!"

Two corridors behind, the furious tengu kills the very last fairy by slicing her body into five separate pieces, flashing her, and blowing each piece out separate windows with her tornadoes of light, then angrily shouts "**I killed all your little bitches! Come on out and face me,**" then angrily, but softly says to herself "just like all the goddamned masters. They hide and let the small-fry do all the damned work!"

A figure appears in front of her, and she sighs as she face palms with her own maple fan, and angrily curses "of course. A fucking maid!"

The reporter swings her fan again, though just to blow off excess steam form herself, and shouts "get the hell out of my damned way, or I will tear you to pieces!"

Zombie Yumeko's left eye is a crimson ball of fire, her right eye pulsates like a heart, though her blond hair remains full and bright, it mismatches with her brown skin and skeletal face, the top of her apron has been ripped off, while the bottom is stained with brownish-yellow fluids, her red dress is full of dried bloodstains, her right hand is a long, brown, flashy blade, and on her right bony hand she holds two short swords between her fingers.

In her natural, unfriendly tone of voice, she says "you are a foul mouthed little bitch. If you think I'll let you reach Lady Shinki, you might as well think of what kind of flowers you will want on your grave."

The zombie maid smiles, and sinisterly adds "that is, if there's a body left for us to bury," then licks her slimy, brown, bony lips with a thin yellow tongue, and drools with anticipation.

The tengu raises her camera, her fan, readies her five tornadoes in front of herself, and as her glowing irises shrink, making her look far more fearsome than the zombie herself, she defiantly growls "you are going to regret getting in my way, blondie!"

* * *

><p>Aya throws her first tornado straight at the maid, whom jumps right out of the way and throws the short swords at her attacker, but the reporter was expecting this, jumps to the left, cutting zombie Yumeko's escape, then shoots several flashes before the monster maid pushes her away with a well placed kick to the chest.<p>

After backing away from the raging crow tengu, the blond zombie snarls and says "Master said you were a cowardly crybaby! To think that you would attack me so viciously."

She summons two more short swords to her left hand, raises her bladed right hand, chuckles, then says "unexpected as this is, it makes things more interesting. Come at me gi-RARGH!"

The tengu girl roars with frustration after having flashed zombie Yumeko straight on the face and seeing that monster still stands straight.

She swings her maple fan and sends two more tornadoes at the monster, while locking on as many beams as she can on her target before she moves.

Yumeko hisses and throws her two swords to the air, and even though after moving, she gets hit by one of the tornadoes, and eight of the ten beams, yet remains standing and shooting green lasers our of the tip of her left index finger, while somehow controlling many other short swords that come from all over the corridor and fly straight at the winged girl.

Aya jumps backward, arching her back and almost touching the back of her head with her feet to avoid getting cut by the blades, and after she lands on her feet and shoots a flash at the monster, she winces from the laser burn on her thigh, and angrily says "stop talking crap and drop dead!"

Meanwhile, a few corridors ahead, an unseen battle takes place in the middle of two realms, as Satori and zombie Sara exchange bullet after bullet, yet both remain unscathed.

The mind-reader flies left, narrowly missing countless white orbs that explode with enough force to blow half of her body off in one hit, hides behind a doorway to wait for the barrage to end, then jumps out of hiding and motions her arms around to unleash a hellish barrage of hearts, lasers and shards.

The dancing zombie twitches when she feels the intense heat coming from those bullets, and jumps away from the first wave and hides behind a column on the dark corridor.

She screams when a yellow laser cuts her cold skin, and from the cut, black blood begins to flow, then snarls angrily and jumps out of hiding to shoot back at the youkai.

Satori decides to take the risk and remains where she is, raises both hands chest high, and shoots a furious stream of orbs and hearts that successfully break through the overpowered white orbs, and reach their mark, which is the space between zombie Sara's black eyes.

The zombie girl screams as she is blown away by the youkai's bullets, and after landing on the ground, before the next wave of bullets reach her, the lilac-haired girl sinks her claws on the floor and rapidly crawls away to the next corridor.

After the rest of her bullets explode, the elder Komeiji looks around and waits for another attack, but after nothing happens in twenty seconds, she takes off after the lever high on the wall, pulls it down, and just like that, several door unlock, the traps shut down, and after a sigh of relief, she says to herself "good. Aya will be safe now."

She begins to descend, and as she does she starts to cough lightly, and with ever convulsion she feels herself getting weaker.

The horrible stench reaches her, and after touching the ground and pinching her nose, she says "oh no! Spirit drain!"

Zombie Sara hisses while walking out of hiding from behind the door to the next corridor, and says "breathe in. More weak you, less hungry me."

Meanwhile, Aya has Yumeko on the ropes, but is not without sword wounds and laser burns of her own.

Regardless of the small bleeding cuts and burned skin, she continues using her fan as a defense against the zombie's blades and blade hand.

Her attacks are relentless, her glowing, swollen eyes make her look like another monster, and even the monstrous blonde is feeling fear, and would like nothing more than to run away.

"Break that curse! **Break that DAMNED CURSE ON SATORI!**" demands the black-haired girl as she swings and flashes.

"I will never let you reach my Lady Shinki, you monster," defiantly replies the zombie maid, currently unwise to the irony of her words.

Aya has had enough, merges the last two small tornadoes around her into one, then traps the zombie within it and pushes her into the next corridor, where Satori and zombie Sara are currently fighting.

Yumeko starts to scream when that swirling light begins breaking her skin, but instead of being consumed by the light, the falls on the ground with a stiff thud.

The tengu walks over to the blonde maid, who breathes as though in actual pain, then breaks a hole on the monster's stomach with her sandal's platform, raises her camera, and in an ominously low tone of voice, asks "where. is. she?"

The maid breathes hard, stabs the tengu on the stomach with her blade, then smiles and says "you will never reach Shinki!"

The reporter's only reaction is a slight twitch after being stabbed, scaring the zombie maid once more, then raises her camera places the flash bulb right on top of Yumeko's pulsating eye, bleeds through her mouth as she smiles, then says "I'll find her anyway, you insufferable bitch."

The pushes the button, a reddish flash sparks out of the bulb, the zombie maid drops limp on the ground, and even her bladed hand falls from Aya's stomach.

The proud tengu drops on her knees after the pain and exhaustion reach her, her tornado disappears, and after taking several breaths of air, she looks up, grimaces, and says "damned palace smells like hell," and swings her fan to general a strong breeze that pushes the smell away.

In the space between the spiritual and physical, the yellow clouds looming over Satori's head fly out the windows, thanks to the crow girl's breeze, and after managing to take a refreshing breath of clean air, she notices Sara standing next to her, yet looking away while hissing "bitch! Killed Yumeko-sis!"

The mind-reader grabs the zombie's hand, getting the monster's attention, then smiles and says "don't worry, you'll see her again soon," then shoots a vicious flash straight into those black eyes, killing the zombie girl, and cursing the fact that she knows what comes next.

Her body, once again, becomes a frame with purple and lilac zigzags inside, and the world looks dark with scarlet clouds covered by a purple mist and squiggly black lines in the distance.

In that darkness of the physical corridor, Aya feels Satori's presence nearby, walks toward her mind-reading friend without actually knowing where she is, reaches in front of herself, and smiles when she feels that familiar warmth.

On the other reality, the purple-haired girl feels her smile while feeling her friend's warmth and looking at that bright frame, then hears the echoed voice of her partner as she says "don't worry Satori-chan. Shinki is ahead. After we kill her, you'll be free from this curse."

She isn't sure how exactly the tengu figured it was Shinki who placed that curse on her, but she decides not to think about it, stands up, then waves her hands around her friend's waist to let her know she's ready to move.

* * *

><p>It's been approximately thirty minutes since Aya resumed the walk down the dark corridors.<p>

She can only guess Satori has been following her this whole time, but she cannot be certain.

All that she is certain of is that the darkness is unfriendly, unwelcoming, cold, and too quiet for her sanity.

As she continues walking down one corridor after another, her thoughts become self-loathing as she continues to blame herself for the mind-reader's current state, and not having someone to talk to is making things even worse, as she is unable to unload her woes from her chest.

A dark shadow has taken the skin surrounding her eyes, her hair looks unkempt, the cuts and burns from her battle with Yumeko don't seem to heal, and more and more it seems the tengu is losing herself.

Thoughts of suicide, destruction, and murder begin to creep into her mind and mix several emotions inside her already raging heart, the corners of her mouth begin to stretch into a disturbing smile, and just as she's about to completely lose her mind, she hears movement up ahead.

The black-haired girl chuckles madly, and then exclaims "Satori-chan! There's someone up ahead! We should attack, right? **RIGHT?**"

After waiting for a few seconds and still getting no answer, she begins to giggle softly, slowly raising her voice as the giggle turns into a cackle, and holding her head tight between her hand, she laughs and says "of course. You're RIGHT! No mercy! That's what they deserve, don't they. Heheh. Heh-heh-ha-ha**-hah. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha~** Flandre has been right all this time. It's fun to destroy. No wonder she loves it so much, don't you agree, Satori-chan?"

She drops on her knees and tears begin to flow down her maddened unfocused eyes, and at that moment, something whooshes around, and that familiar hissing and eerie motherly voice coos in the darkness.

"Aww, could not take pressure, could you?" asks the voice before flicking her fingers and turning on several green torches around the expansive hallway.

The room has several thick crystal pillars on both sides, there is a ridiculously long red regal carpet going from one end of the hall to the other, a chandelier hangs above the center of the room, stained with blood, and is adorned with stomachs, eyes and many other unrecognizable organs, and a single hand with tiny fireballs on the tip of its fingers.

Shinki hovers above her throne in front of the broken tengu at the center of the room, grinning and showing off her diamond-sharp jagged teeth.

Her eyes are two light-blue glowing orbs, her hair has turned ghostly-white and hangs lose down to her waist, her skin is black and full of thorns, some breaking through her red robe on her back and shoulders, her six wings are raven black, red runes keep glowing under them, and her legs look like a pair of dry grey sticks with rotten meat smeared all over them.

The demonic zombie clicks her tongue, scowls at the giggling tengu, then says "enough of this charade. Nobody else is here, so I'll speak like I want."

She looks around and shouts "**NO!** To hell with you Master! I've had enough of **your** fun! It's time I had my own!"

Aya's eyes begin to glow crimson when she locks her sight on Shinki, and continues to smile and giggle while slowly taking her camera and fan on hand, and slowly stands up.

The zombie Makaian turns her attention to the reporter, smirks, then rummages through a pocket on her left sleeve and quickly tosses the crystal pyramid at the girl, saying "take it. That's not the reason you are here anyway... am I right little doll?"

Shameimaru is not sure exactly why anymore, but she picks up that pyramid, drops her fan to take the storage cube out of her pocket, places the treasure inside, then pockets the cube again and picks up her fan.

She looks at her left hand and explores it as if it were brand new, then smiles, chuckles softly at Shinki, and in a cold, eerie, dark tone of voice, she slowly says "it's gone. Satori-chan took it. She's my dearest friend. I love her very, very much. Will you give her back to me?"

The Goddess of Makai laughs so hard, she has to hold her sides tight, before stopping to stare at the reporter with a grin, and says "if you want me to lift the curse, you'll have to play with me for a little bit. But remember, if you kill m-...e? Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Aya arcs backward, she lets her arms hang limp beside her, and her body convulses as she begins to laugh, progressing slowly to a mad cackling, then screams "**blood, blood, blood, blood! It's all about the blood! GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!**"

The glower on Shinki's face is a good indication that she's worried.

She was not expecting such a mad reaction from her new toy, but regardless of what she was expecting, it's now on, and she prepares herself as that black-haired girl rushes straight at her with her camera and fan on hand, and a disturbing grin on her face.

* * *

><p>Zombie Shinki waves her hand to create and shoot a thin blade of light-blue light meant to cut the attacking girl in half, but Aya's fury, hatred and madness matches that power when she swings her fan using her entire body for the move, and sends a wind blade that cuts the blade of light in half and goes straight at the monster.<p>

The zombie woman snarls and moves away just in time to avoid the vicious wind blade, then gasps at the sight of her throne being split in half.

"You bitch, you'll pay for that," shouts the zombie woman, who prepares a ball of tainted light between her hand, then throws it straight at the black-haired girl.

Aya grunts when that spell hits her on the chest, and falls on her back on the floor, where zombie Shinki drops on her and pins her arms on the ground.

She gets closer to the neck of her tasty-looking prey and hopes to take a quick bite, but stops when she sees the mad smile on the crow tengu, then realizes too late the camera is aimed straight at her face.

The demonic woman screams when that burning light pierces here eyes and burns her flesh, and now finds herself flat on her back on the ground with that insane giggling girl on top of her stomach.

Before she can move her monstrous body, the insane girl stabs her fan like a blade on the zombie's chest, slides it down as far as she can; getting dark blood spilled all over her face; laughing insanely as it all happens, then shouts "let's see if you have a heart! GAH!"

Zombie Shinki manages to punch the girl on the side of the head, and frees herself from getting cut to pieces.

She inspects her damaged body, splits the skin between her breasts and gazes upon her own ribs, then snarls while facing those red glowing eyes in the darkness of the hall, and angrily says "I will make you beg for death for an **eternity**!"

"The curse. Break the goddamned **curse! Give me MY SATORI BACK!**" shouts the reporter back at the monster, then jumps to the air and flaps her wings to gain more speed for another frontal attack.

In between the realms, Satori's frame shakes her head and waves her arms in a desperate, but futile attempt to get her friend to stop the insane attacks.

To her dismay, nothing she can currently do can, or will help her stop the girl, and as she watches the insane battle unfold, she thinks "_I can't believe it. All this time I thought she was **my** strength, but it turns out it was me that was keeping this girl from breaking. Argh, why did this have to happen now? My dear Aya-chan, please stop and look at yourself, before it's too late!_"

Back in physicality, the crazed tengu has summoned two mid-sized tornadoes that stand in front of her, and is filling the second one with beams of light right after preparing the first, while the frightened zombie demon places a third coat of magic on her blood-red barrier.

Aya laughs hard after seeing that barrier, and then says "that won't stop me! I won't stop until you break the curse!"

Shinki clicks her tongue, then charges straight at the girl, thinking this is her best chance to deal with this problem, and get herself a good meal.

The reporter giggles, gestures her fan forward, and sends one tornado straight at the monster, then places the fan around her belt, and the second tornado vanishes from sight.

She immediately jumps up and flaps her wings to rise higher than the zombie Makaian, then flaps her wings again to fly forward.

"DAMMIT," curses Shinki when her barrier crashes and locks against the tornado after her enemy flies above her, and can only wait until that girl finishes the attack, or dispel her own barrier and get hit by the light on the back while doing away with the crow.

Shameimaru takes the opportunity and dive-kicks the back of that hated woman, causing her to yelp with surprise, and then grins widely as she raises her camera, and shoots seven beams at the back of her enemy's head.

Zombie Shinki screams when those beams burn a hole her skin, burning away most of her white hair in the process, but before she can react any further, the attacking tengu stomps her back, shoots another three beams toward the blood-red barrier, and the monstrous woman screams with anticipation of what is to come.

Aya jumps off as Shinki gets trapped inside the swirling light, and shoots the wailing goddess with flashes and beams from above, then allows herself to drop back on the ground, and waits for the first attack to end.

The white-haired monster screams in agony as the blade-like winds, mixed with that deadly light, pierce through her skin and bones, causing her excruciating pain.

The winged girl drools as she continues to smile at the agonizing monster before her, and chuckles to herself while that zombie woman screams and begs for the pain to end.

The living girl's smile suddenly vanishes when she feels something odd coming from the back of her head.

She imagines Satori waving her arms around and begging her to stop that torture and end the fight, and right after the thought ends, the girl gasps, and some sanity returns to her face.

She stops the first tornado with a flick from her fan, allowing zombie Shinki to finally fall, but before the demonic monster can move, the black-haired girl twirls her fan on her hand, and four miniature tornadoes form on the woman's hands and legs, and a fifth one forms just below her back.

Shameimaru walks closer to the zombie woman, slides her hand on the top-right wing of the Makaian, and coldly says "I split the tornado in five pieces. Break that curse now, or the torture will resume."

When Shinki fails to reply, the reporter grips that wing tight, then pulls with all her might, breaking it off the back of the goddess, and opening a hole where the light from the fifth tornado can enter.

The woman screams in agony again, and without showing the slightest hint of mercy, Aya grabs the remaining two wings on the right, and demands "**break the goddamned curse, now!**"

The zombie woman gasps and moans, but doesn't reply, so the crow reporter grips those two wings and rips them off with a roar, causing the monster to roar like an actual beast when a larger hole forms on her back, where the light penetrates, but doesn't kill her.

The winged girl jumps over the woman, grips all three wings on the left side, and angrily shouts "**BREAK THAT FUCKING CURSE, YOU STUBBORN SICK BITCH!**"

"P-PLEASE," begs the goddess, hoping to trick the girl into releasing her, but instead of sympathy, she gets an even larger hole on the left side of her back when that angry tengu with glowing eyes rips those three wings, taking the whole left side of the woman's black flesh with them, and now even more light pours inside the zombie's body.

"**NO MORE! PLEASE, LET ME GO! I SWEAR, I GOT MY SENSES BA-AAAAAAIIIIIEEEEE~**"

Shinki's honest pleas fall on deaf ears, and now has lost her right leg, which Aya tosses aside and threatens to rip off the next, while the tornado holding the other leg moves to the hole where that right leg was.

"**Aya-chan, stop!**"

Satori's voice reaches the crazed crow tengu just in time, who releases that dried leg, and looks behind herself to gaze upon that figure she's grown so accustomed to.

Satori Komeiji stands under one of the torches in the room, far away from her crazed friend's reach, crying as she says "that's enough! Finish her already! She doesn't deserve this!"

The tengu girl slowly turns her head toward the monstrous woman who is still trapped by her twisters of light, and gasps with fright and shame when her eyes meet with those pained glowing light-blue eyes.

She calls off the small tornadoes, wobbles over to Shinki's face, raises her camera, and whispers "I'm so sorry..."

The Goddess of Makai winces with pain, looks at her tormentor, shakes her head, and then says "no. I'm the one... who's sorry. I couldn't... help you at all."

Aya flashes the woman on the face, finally ending the torture and allowing her to rest, then sighs and turns her neck around.

Satori stands next to her, drops on her knees, grabs the winged girl's shoulders, but before she can say anything, her partner turns around and throws her arms around the satori's neck, rests her chin on that pale shoulder, and as if completely out of energy, softly says "my Satori-chan. I'm so sorry you had to see that."

The mind-reader can read all the thoughts coursing through her friend's mind, all of being lost in despair, so she closes her eyes, rests her chin on her friend's bare shoulder, rubs her back, and says "it's alright. I'm here now."

No tears are shed this time, for the overwhelming feeling of relief heals both girls' spirits without overexerting any other emotion, and as they continue their embrace, they feel as the floor below them disappears, and now they fall back into the void.

* * *

><p>Shortly after the light thud that indicates the girls they have landed, they both open their eyes, and suddenly gasp simultaneously.<p>

Instead of landing inside the cabin, the girls find themselves on a large patch of land that appears to be a replica of the central park at the Human Village, except there are no trees, and the dragon's statue's base is empty.

"What in blazes," questions the satori maiden as she looks around, and sees the cabin floating behind her friend.

Aya's eyes begin to glow once more, making that dark shadow around them look more ominous, then slowly stands up, helps her friend up, and says "shikigami."

At the other end of the stone path stand the disgusting figures of Chen, and Ran Yakumo.

The nekomata hisses, making the scratched skin on her face dangle about while spitting a bit of black drool around, then raises her extended claws and aims her sights straight at Satori.

Ran sets her sights on the crow tengu, and as frightening as she looks, the reporter just glares back without changing her posture, or expression of anger.

The nine-tailed fox's eyes are grey and have elongated, the skin on her face has turned bluish, her hat is full of blood, what little hair remains on the sides of her head has turned platinum, her lower fangs have grown, there is a Chen-sized hole on her stomach, which is stained with fresh and dried blood, the lower half of her dress has been melted off by the sizzling melting skin that drips from the dried up muscles on her waist and legs, and her tails look the same, but house a red tentacle that wriggles around the bushy tails, as if it were the master of them.

The crow tengu stances ready for the imminent attack, holding both camera and fan tightly, and whispers "let's stay together. They are too strong to be taken one-on-one."

The satori youkai nods, raises her third eye, then the monstrous Chen charges at her.

The cat girl is met by twenty beams that threaten to obliterate her, yet she only stops and lifts her hands, and grabs all twenty beams in a magic field around her hand, then hisses and throws the clustered beams like a bowling ball straight at the girls.

Aya grabs her friend under her arms and takes off to the air with a mighty flap from her wings, and before Satori asks the obvious question of "why", the ball of light bursts, and from within a black goop spreads around momentarily, as if trying to grasp something, then sizzles down to nothing in an instant.

Before beginning their descent, the satori maiden shoots a flash to their right, and causes the spinning ran to yelp like a wounded dog and fly away, though before she's out of range, the angry reporter lifts her camera and shoots a single beam.

"Wait, don't use beams," exclaims the purple-haired girl.

"Why not?" angrily asks her partner.

Her question is answered when the zombie kitsune lashes the tentacle in her tails and bats away the beam of light, sending it back to the girls again, and causing the winged reporter to say "oh, that's why."

Right after they land, they both hop back to avoid Chen's roll, then shoot a flash just before the nekomata swipes those long claws at them.

She growls loudly, then Ran lands next to the girls and swipes her claws at them, tearing a chunk off the mind-reader's skirt, and slightly cutting the tengu's left shoulder.

The kitsune gets flashed on the face by both girls, who shoot another simultaneous flash at the cat girl behind her fleeing master, and after both zombies hiss and back away, the black-haired reporter looks at her friend, whistles, and says "well, those tight pants look really good on you."

Satori blushes as she covers herself with both hands, embarrassed of how tight her black pants are, then angrily demands "h-hey, keep your eyes on the enemy, dummy!"

Aya slides to her partner's right with her maple fan held tight, smashes the spinning shikigamis away, then, before they are too far, the satori girl shoots a bright flash that makes them both roar in pain.

As soon as the zombie shikigamis land again, they both split up, the nekomata to the left, and the kitsune to the right, then both start spinning around in circles in the air above the girls, while shooting a stream of red and blue orbs behind, each.

The ridiculous amount of bullets can cause some actual damage to the girls if they aren't careful, but shooting beams has already proven useless, so they have no choice but to get close, and stop them before it gets out of hand.

Satori yelps and holds her chest tight when she tries to fly, and since both girls understand what happened, and so as not to waste another second, Aya grabs her dear friend, places her on her winged back, then jumps up high to meet with the zombies.

The mind-reader ducks and bends, while the tengu sways, rises and dives, all to avoid the cluster of bullets surrounding them, and just as the seal on the crow girl begins to act up, both girls shoot a flash on either side and cancel the dual spell when both beast youkai yelp and fall to the ground below.

The living girls follow, thanks to the seals' pull, and upon their harsh landing they quickly follow after both beasts and shower each with several flashes.

Zombie Ran jumps from her back, roaring furiously after taking seven flashes in a row from the crow tengu, and tackles the black-haired girl to the ground, where the zombie sits on the girl's belly.

Zombie Chen does the same as her master, but instead of tackling the satori maiden, she sinks eight claws through her target's left calf, making her scream out in pain and fall to the ground on her back.

The nekomata crawls to her prey's face, smiles, dribbling some of that black drool on the girl's neck, and just as the monster opens her mouth, Satori shoots a single thick beam into that gaping hole, ending that little cat's monster life in an instant.

The pain on her leg prevents her from getting up, but then she hears Aya screaming in agony and very suddenly her leg doesn't hurt as much.

She gets on her feet, and a few feet away to her right she sees the monster kitsune grabbing her own melting skin and smearing it on the pinned tengu's face.

Doing so causes an instant burning reaction that turns the reporter's skin red on contact, making a loud sizzle as well.

Blood boils inside Satori's heart after witnessing such a scene, and without thinking about it, she runs to the fox, stretches her own third eye far, places it in front of the monster's smile, then shoots a beam using sixty percent of her power, giving that beam enough force to break a hole on that pretty bluish face, and kill that monster in that instant.

Aya screams and cries as she grabs that melted skin and pulls it off her face, shoulder and stomach with her own hands, but doing so burns her hands as well, so the mind-reader shoots a flash at her friend to rid her of that burning skin, then softly says "I got you now. Come, I'll clean you up."

She picks up the sobbing, hard-breathing tengu girl, wraps the bird girl's arm around her neck, then helps her walk rapidly toward the cabin, which has landed right in front of them, welcoming them back inside its safe walls.

* * *

><p>Having stripped her friend out of her clothes, Satori helps her up the tall wooden tub filled with cold water, and takes notice that the poor girl has been burned on the thighs and around the waist.<p>

Aya yelps and groans after entering the water, then the mind-reader says "I know it's cold, but we have to treat those burns right away!"

The tengu groans and softly screeches as the water meets with her burned spots, and realizing the water isn't helping, the satori youkai pulls her storage cube out of her pocket, swiftly takes a bottle of divine water from within, then begins to uncap it.

The black-haired girl stops her by placing her hand on that cap, pants a few times, and then manages to say "no... please. Save it. W-we might need- AIGH!"

Satori strikes her friend's hand away, takes the cap off the bottle, then pours the whole thing into the tub, and strictly says "you need it now, so no complaining!"

Both girls sigh with relief upon the immediate healing reaction of the divine water, and after all the burn marks are cured from Aya's entire body, the mind-reading girl takes another breath of relief, and says "thank the goddesses! Oh, I'm going to prepare a meal-"

Her words are cut short when she feels the bird girl's warm hand on her right shoulder, and when she looks back, the tengu girl glances upward and pathetically begs "please don't leave."

The girls stare straight into each other's eyes for a moment, then Komeiji smiles, chuckles, rubs her friend's head, and says "alright, alright. You can relax, my dear. I won't leave."

Somehow, she can feel the tengu's fright, and can see the fearful thoughts of loneliness in that rapid-beating heart, so the meal will have to wait a little longer, for Aya's mental sake.

Hours later, Aya sleeps peacefully on the bed in her room, covered only by her bed sheets, while Satori watches over her from the door.

The purple-haired girl closes the door as gently as she can, kneels beside the bed, then places her hand on that black crow's feathery hair, and smiles.

The tengu snores softly after the first hair stroke, then moans after the second, then the mind-reader in underwear giggles and softly says "to think that I thought you hated me when we first met, that it was I who needed you with me all along to survive, and here we are now, realizing I need you as much as you need me, bound by fate, and loving every moment of it."

Shameimaru smiles, opens her eyes, moans, and then whispers "I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want to get separated. Satori-chan, I am scared. Without you, I won't be able to do this. Not alone. Please, don't leave me again."

Satori closes her purple eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath, thinking hard about what words she'll say next, then opens her eyes again and whispers "I would love nothing more than to promise I'll always be by your side, but you saw what happened, and I know you understand that staying together all the time might be impossible."

The winged girl reaches for her friend's face, rubs her cheeks, then sadly whispers "I know. I know, but I can't help feeling afraid. And I know you feel afraid that I might be the one to leave your side, so how about this instead? Let's promise that, no matter what, if we do get separated again, let's promise to meet somewhere along the road again."

The mind-reader closes her eyes and smiles, then nods and whispers "yes. I think that is a promise that can be kept, even with this world as it is."

The two girls giggle together, then remain smiling at each other for some time, then Aya asks "can we sleep together today? Please?"

The purple-haired girl blushes beet red and stammers for a while, unsure of what to say in this situation, but when she looks at those eyes, how that swelling and those shadows are still there, she steels herself and whispers "yes, I think it's alright if we sleep together for tonight."

The winged girl smiles, chuckles softly, and almost immediately falls back to sleep.

Satori stares with surprise at first, then smiles and whispers "poor dear is completely exhausted," then slowly makes her way under those covers, making sure to keep the tengu's naked body covered with the sheets.

Aya moves aside slightly, as though conscious of what she's doing, yet all there is in her mind is a dream of a green Gensokyo.

The satori maiden smiles after accommodating herself in front of her dear friend, kisses her forehead, yawns, and then whispers "sleep tight dear Aya. Something tells me the next time this cabin lands, things will get a little more hectic. But you just... *yawn* rest now. As long as we're together, we should both do fine."

And so, the girls drift to the land of dreams, while their bodies rest in preparation for what may lie ahead.

* * *

><p>Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-<p>

Satori's "Memory Sign, Traumatic Lifetime" was derived from "Memory Sign, Brain Fingerprint".

Aya's "Glowing Tornado from the Wind God" was created by Willie G.R., derived from "Whirl Sign, Maple Leaf Fan."

DEC 2 2011

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so ends one long Undying Gensokyo chapter. This was both easy and hard to write for me. Easy because I (even though these locations and characters weren't planned to appear in this story) managed to keep to the main plot with ease; and hard because of the length of the chapter, AND the out of control Aya. It was very hard to visualize her like that, AND harder still to put that description into words in a way that worked. Ah, but I think it worked well.**

**Just a heads-up, but now that the "Gapped" arc is done, it's not long before this story comes to its glorious end. By now, I am sure that many know who the "Master" is, but you know, maybe it's her, maybe it's not her. I could pull a sudden change or addition from the main story's plot (like with this chapter), and THEN who's the master? Ah well, I'll stop teasing now. Thanks for your continued support, thanks for reading all the way down here, and will see you on the next chapter. Cheers!**


	14. The Castle is Ahead

**NOTICE: Harsh language ahead!**

* * *

><p>The skies, the trees, the mountain behind her; Aya Shameimaru finds herself in a world where everything is black and white, including her iron armor with the pointy shoulders and plated skirt, her bladed kneecaps, her old black-feathers fan, and the many sharp combat knives on the belt going across her torso and waist.<p>

She finds herself at the foot of the Youkai Mountain, though at its younger ages, where most of the area around it had limited numbers of trees surrounding it, unlike the present, and the Kappa Village was still hidden behind the hollow rocky walls that adorned the mountain's base.

She can hear the screaming of the youkai and humans that are being killed by her kin, the sound of the blood splashing all around her shocks her nerves, but her senses snap back when she hears the familiar voice of Tenma call out from the sky.

"Shameimaru, what the hell are you doing? Stop those thieves!"

The scene before her flashes, and she sees herself slicing the neck of a human who was trying to steal tengu treasures in the confusion of the battle.

The blood that splashes out of that man's new hole on his neck is bright red, unlike the scene around them, and that's when the warrior tengu takes notice that all the blood on the grass, rocks, trees and puddles of water becomes red to her, while the rest of the scenery remains colorless.

Another flash sends her to another scene, where she's opening the chest of a bear-like youkai, shredding its heart with her knife and painting her whole armor with its blood.

As the scenes flashes to the next set of murders, the tengu desperately thinks "_why? Why am I here? This is the battle I fought alongside Lord Tenma after the oni left the mountain! These damned humans wanted to steal our treasures and weapons for money, and the stupid youkai were trying to take over the mountain. This is the battle that won Tenma his position. But why am I here? What happened to Satori? Was that just a dream? Where there really any zombies? Argh! Wait! What if THIS is the dream? Help! Somebody help! I don't want to be here!_"

Even though she thinks that, her bloodthirsty smile can't leave her vicious face as she cuts her enemies and bathes in their splashing blood, and cackles as she terrorizes the humans before killing them in the most gruesome manner she can think of, and then the flashes stop.

She now stands on an open field near the exit of the Youkai Forest facing a hooded enemy, while all her allies battle vampires and ravens above, making it rain red.

Aya smiles viciously at her new opponent as she readies herself with two knives on each hand, and bends her body and knees to pounce the hooded figure, who remains standing tall, unmoving and threatening.

The tengu warrior slides her left foot, a glint escapes the enemy's hood, and the scene flashes forward once more, and now Aya stands on top of the figure's ruined body and clenching the chest tight.

She pulls with all her might until a disturbing crack and other wet noises grace her ears, making her grin wider as her opponent's blood splashes all over her face.

She finally rips the figure's beating heart right out of its chest and cackles in celebration.

"Aya...chan?"

The hooded being's whimper shocks the bloodthirsty tengu, she stops celebrating, loses her grip on the still-beating heart, pulls the hood off her victim's, then jumps off the body and falls on her back, holds her head as she starts to hyperventilate and foam at the mouth.

Her eyes loose all their focus as she starts to laugh, her tears begin to roll down her cheeks, then, after one hard, long and loud gasp for air, she screams "**SAAATOOOORIIIIIII!**"

The figure she had murdered was none other than Satori Komeiji, whom had saved her so many times from all those monsters and her very own mind in the present.

Aya's eyes begin to glow red and she wails for her fallen friend, watches with despair as blood starts flowing down the girl's mouth, and then she jumps to a sitting position as she screams "**Satori!**"

The frightened tengu finds herself in the cabin's room, naked under the sheets of her bed.

Her heart is beating so fast her ribs vibrate with every hard thump, and she's sweating so much, her sheets are getting transparent.

"I-it was... a dream," whispers the girl between hard breaths as she tries to convince her mind that what she saw and did just now was only a dream, but she knew better than that.

That battle was real, at least in her past, and she had taken several lives with those knives before mastering her magic, and thus killing many adversaries more effectively, becoming one of the most powerful beings in the world after surviving so many bloody battles.

She rubs her face with both hands as she recovers herself, slowly turns her head left, and squints her eyes when she notices something red on the sheets.

She pulls those sheets and screeches "SATORI," upon seeing her dear friend's mouth covered in blood in the same way it was in her dream.

She breathes hard through her mouth as she jumps off her bed, and fights with her own limbs when they try to fail her when they feel like thin strands of hay, instead of strong youkai bones and muscles.

She is completely naked, but even noticing this, her concern is her mind-reading friend, and saving her from whatever may be destroying her body.

She runs out of the room to look for some medical equipment; heads straight to the living room, but finds none, runs to the bathroom for some bandages, but when she opens the door, instead of the bathroom, she finds herself facing a large castle made out to look like one large coliseum after another, linked by a large orange wall that leads to one massive arena at the end, where three girls laugh as their shadows cast themselves on the thundering sky.

Aya turns around, screaming with despair, then sees Satori, bleeding through her mouth and with a large hole where he heart should be, and saying "Aya-chan, open your eyes."

The world around her spins, making her dizzy enough to want to vomit, then it all stops, and everything turns pitch black.

"Aya-chan, please, wake up! You're having a nightmare!"

Satori's desperate pleas finally reach the thrashing reporter, and watches as her black-haired friend slowly calms down and opens her eyes.

Shameimaru's darkened eyes open just slightly, and even so, the mind-reader can see they are bloodshot, possibly from the overwhelming stress.

The purple-haired girl sighs her stress off, and then softly says "finally. You've been having such a terrible nightmare and wouldn't wake up. I was starting to get worried you fell under a spell or something."

The tengu springs up and grabs her friend in a hug, sobs and sniffles as she tightens her grip, and whimpers "you're alive! I didn't kill you. I'm so relieved!"

Again, she realizes she is completely naked under those sheets, but again she doesn't care.

All she cares about is that her dear friend is alive and well, that she didn't go into a murdering rampage during her dreaming, and sobs away the stress built up in her body thanks to that nightmare.

Satori pats and rubs her tengu friend's back sympathetically, and softly coos "it's alright, it was just a dream. We are both alright Aya-chan."

Both girls are delighted to be holding each other like that, but they both know now it's not the time, and the purple-haired girl continues to comfort the anxious crow girl as best she can.

* * *

><p><em>Day XXXO, Right-side Room of The Cabin in The Void_

_Aya here. Going to make this brief. Last time this damned cabin landed, we found ourselves deep inside the Mausoleum that rests underneath the Myouren temple, and almost immediately after getting stranded there, we were attacked by the sky-like walls. Yes, the walls and the ground there came to life in the form of blobs. After we exit, we come across an ELECTRIC blob, and soon after, her friends, and a bitch in the shadows. That same bitch put a curse on Satori, and we couldn't touch each other because of that. She was still there, just translucent, transparent... whatever you want to call it. On top of that, one of the zombies there was particularly vicious, and guess who had to fight THAT crazy monster after having her wings forcefully grow back to normal after saving her satori from a spiritual trap? Oh yes, I had to fight her, but ended up getting bitten, and almost got my whole damned shoulder ripped off by metal-sharp teeth. I wake up a few days after that inside a dark room, where Satori was trying to nurse me, but couldn't, then we are attacked by MORE zombies the very moment we discover we are in Makai. One, a fire wielder, another just a bitch. Oh, but it gets even better! After beating those creeps and moving on, this large snake-like bitch comes in a block of ice and freezes Satori-chan. When I go and save her... she... My Satori-chan disappeared, and I thought that 'that was it'. I was gonna give up right then, but she managed to contact me. She was stuck in a world between the physical and spiritual. I couldn't take it. I rushed over to Pandemonium after having guessed who had that godsdamned pyramid, and who had placed that curse on Satori, I raised hell for them, I hit them with everything I had, **AND THEN SOME!** I made the little zombies scream, I made that Yumeko shiver in fear, and then I made Shinki **CRY LIKE A BABY!** And then Satori came back. Her voice brought me back from my madness. I realized what I had done to that goddess. I destroyed her unnecessarily, or... was it necessary? I still don't know, but she released Satori from that curse at the cost of her body and mind. I think... I'm becoming like one of them. I can certainly say I enjoyed doing that to her, and I would do it again, even if I didn't really have to. Well, maybe. After last night's dream, I'm not so sure. I mean, I was a murderous warrior back in those days of war, but now I'm just a peace-loving reporter... or am I really? I don't know what's going on with me. I'm thirsting for blood after that, and even after that failure against Ran, I feel... like I enjoyed trying to rip her guts open. Though, admittedly, I enjoyed having Satori bathe me and nurse me all night better than killing._

The entire cabin shakes and trembles after a loud thud, then Aya stops typing, stares unblinking at the last sentences she wrote, and whispers to herself "blood. I liked that... back then."

The door to her room gently opens, and Satori stands under its frame as she asks "we're here. Are you ready?"

She looks to the bed, where her tengu friend looks lost and confused as she aims her blank stare toward the curtains on the window.

Shortly after, she picks up on those thoughts, is overwhelmed by the bloodlust in them, and ends up gasping in surprise and running toward the spaced-out reporter.

The warm embrace she receives from the mind-reader is enough to snap her from those bloody thoughts, and to turn her head down to look at her friend.

Satori tightens her grip as she sinks her face in the tengu's belly, and says "no. Not now Aya-chan. We're so close! Don't break like that! You are better than that. You are kind, sweet, and you love peace, the very same peace we are going to get back! So please, stay as you are. Don't think on that anymore!"

Aya's thoughts slowly return to their present, peaceful ways, then upon realizing her satori friend is there, begging her to compose herself, the tengu ends up returning the hug, though her eyes remain looking blank.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "It's just that, so much has happened, and something... inside of me, it's changed. I've changed. I am no longer sure if I'll ever be the same again."

She looks at her camera next to the typewriter, and says "journalism. I took that up after the war. I liked it. It was a quiet job, gave me a good excuse to leave the village for days if I wanted."

Her eyes start glowing red as she releases her friend and continues "but now... there's no village. Everyone is against us. They want to kill you and me, and I can't allow that!"

Satori grabs Aya's face, pulls her close, kisses her on the lips, and just like that, the tengu's thoughts become blank.

With that mind restored into a clean slate, the purple-haired girl slowly pulls her smiling lips away from the shocked reporter's soft and warm lips, grins, and in a somewhat energetic tone of voice, she says "you are Aya Shameimaru, age 17, _you liar_, and you are the pure and honest reporter of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper!"

The winged girl remains silent, while her friend continues "you will have your peace back, you will write stories for your paper again. You'll get the chance to see those tengu, to escape the village for days and hide at the Hakurei Shrine again. But to reach _that_ goal, we both need to go a little farther through this terrible nightmare of a land that was our home. You cannot do it without me, and I definitely can't do it without you. Stay with me, Aya-chan."

The winged girl's eyes return to normal as she looks into her friend's purple eyes, gently touches her cheeks, then gently smiles as she whispers "alright. Heh, let's get Gensokyo back to the way it should be, so I can rid myself of these stupid thoughts of war and blood, and take back our peace."

The girls smile at each other, get off that bed, walk through the cabin, all the way to the door leading out, and as that door opens up, Aya says "Satori-chan. Thank you, for everything."

The purple-haired girl chuckles softly, and says "you're welcome."

And now they stand on soft soil, surrounded by a few, brown, withered sunflowers that seem to be looking up at the dark, night-like sky, apparently knowing where the sun should be.

They notice how the flowers in the area they are on appear harmless, but further in the flowerbeds ahead, where more of those brown flowers are accompanied by several other types of foliage, they can see roots and vines wriggle around.

Their creepy tips are covered with blood and the rotting organs of their prey, and it becomes apparent those things are well aware of Satori and Aya's presence there.

To their far right stands a dark, cozy, two-story house that is covered by seemingly withered plants that have peeled the purple paint off the walls, and have broken several windows to get inside.

As they look around the area around them for the safest road to the Nameless Hill, the tengu's senses tick, and she looks away toward the derelict foundation that used to be Yuka's house, and says "there's something watching us."

The elder Komeiji glances around, trying to feel any presence, but when she fails to find, or sense one, she looks to her friend, then opens her eyes wider in surprise before asking "wait, wha-what are you doing?"

The reporter holds one of her divine water bottles up to her friend's face, and smiles when she says "you've used many of yours on me already. Take this one so we may both have four."

The purple-haired girl is going to protest, but Aya pushes the bottle on her hands and says "please. Take it."

Satori reluctantly accepts the forced bottle, nods to her dear partner, and now they both look toward the horizon, where they can see more clouds rising to the sky; a good indication that the cauldron is there, waiting for them to arrive.

* * *

><p>The girls waste no time in making their way toward the rising clouds, all the way over to the Nameless Hill.<p>

As they run through the seemingly dead garden, they shoot their flashes to the ground to scare away the roots coming from the sentient flowers all around them.

The farther they move toward their goal, the more violent the roots and vines become.

"Hey, Satori-chan?" questions Aya after scaring of a cluster of roots. "Is it just me, or are those damned flowers getting closer?"

Satori looks around and takes notice of what she thinks are rotten bluebells, decaying sunflowers, and melting amaryllis surrounding them, then says "Yes, you're right. I'm getting a very bad feeling about those. Maybe we should deal with them directly."

The tengu reporter flashes a few roots away from herself and her friend's feet, then says "maybe, but there's also that presence that's running around us. It might be waiting for **us** to make the first move."

The mind-reader takes a sudden turn and pushes her friend away from a cluster of thorny vines that are surrounded by a purple slime, flashes the offending things away, and while Shameimaru flashes a thick root away from both their feet, the satori says "well at least there aren't any zombies around. That, at least, accounts for something, right?"

The girls look at each other and smile, while Aya nervously thinks "_wait, why are we smiling? There's probably something so very bad in here that the zombies are keeping away from!_"

Satori chuckles, swing her hand under her nose, and comments "oh, you're just being paranoi-iiieeeEAAAA!"

The purple-haired satori finds herself dangling upside down from her left leg, which is being lifted off the ground by a sunflower's root, and quickly finds herself overwhelmed by several other vines and decaying roots.

"Help ME!" calls the youkai girl, igniting Aya's spirit and getting freed almost immediately after that tengu cuts those roots and vines with her fan with impeccable skill and precision.

She catches the mind-reader before she falls, holds her like a princess, even after landing, and softly asks "are you alright?"

Satori nods, then both girls flinch when the flowers to their lefts screech loud enough to cause the soil to vibrate.

The girls quickly stand on their own feet and begin their run, knowing all-too-well that whenever a monster screeches like that, hell breaks loose somehow, and it does, yet again.

Behind and besides them, countless withered and decaying flowers rush through the earth like hungry sharks in the water, their stems swimming trough the soil with ease, wriggling their roots and vines around, threatening to impale the girls as they rapidly surround them.

Shameimaru grabs the mind-reader around the waist, stretches her own wings, and with one mighty flap and a strong kick off the ground, both girls are airborne and safe from the undead, wilted, brown flowers.

"Aya-chan, wait! The seal! What about the seal?" questions the youkai girl.

The tengu reporter sighs, suppressing the burning pain coming from the seal on her chest, and says "you're not paying for my mistake this time! Don't worry about me, though. I'm used to this stupid seal's burning by now. We'll be alright."

She may not like the idea of sacrificing the dear tengu's comfort for her own well being, but upon laying her eyes on the ground below and all around them, she takes notice of the thousands of flowers swimming silently on the soft soil while trying to keep up with their pray.

Even in that night-like darkness, the sight is not hard to miss, and it becomes more frightening when she cannot even tell if those flowers are trying to reach for them or not.

Satori, then, looks up at her friend's face, and without looking into her thoughts, she can see the pain she's holding behind those stiff eye.

After reading those thoughts, the satori maiden panics, and anxiously exclaims "Aya-chan, just land! You're going to faint!"

"I can take it! Just a little more!" shouts the brave tengu, keeping her eyes locked on one large boulder, big and tall enough to keep them away from the monster flowers.

"Guh! SATORI-CHAN! HELP!"

Aya's sudden shriek unsettles the mind-reader further, and she nervously looks around for whatever may be causing that black-haired girl's discomfort, though it doesn't take her long.

There is a two-headed figure hiding in the darkness, and it's flying around both girls at great speed and swiping what looks like claws close to the crow girl's butt and thighs, and what's worst, it has already landed two hits.

The mind-reader gets furious when she sees the dark blood flowing out of those two deep cuts on that girl's tender areas, and doesn't question the use of fifty percent of her own power with every flash she shoots.

Flowers, flowers and flowers; that is all she keeps knocking out as she is unable to see where that creature is, and her beams keep going after the flowers below, while her flashes just plain miss, and somehow she feels it has gotten darker, making it even harder for her to see.

"**ARGH!**"

Aya's painful scream echoes in Satori's head over and over, making her forget the fact that they are both falling to the ground, down to those flowers, and that there's a monstrous creature after them.

She grabs the tengu under the arms, uses her will to push herself and the reporter with her magic "**AIIEE**," and her seal burns and pulls her down with enough force for both girls to feel a jolt of pain.

The mind-reader plans on using her body as a cushion for her partner, but Aya grips her tight and turns over, using herself as the cushion instead, softening the fall on the flowerbed for her dear mind-reading friend.

They slide ten feet on that soil, which releases a vomit-inducing smell as it is broken through, and when they stop, the girls quickly find themselves surrounded by those flowers, but immediately realize they aren't being attacked.

"What's going on?" softly asks the tengu, looking around while trying hard to get up on her feet, and adding "they aren't attacking. Why aren't they attacking?"

The purple-haired satori, still in pretty good shape, hops over to the hurt crow girl, and points toward that figure that slowly gets closer, and whispers "that presence you were talking about. It's right over there."

The clouds above soften up a bit, shooting yellow bolts to the ground around the large flower garden, to reveal their ample, bumpy surroundings, and the face of their attacker.

Lily White and Lily Black have become one sickening zombie fairy with very long and sharp claws, and an odor so foul the girls cry as they hold their noses to try and prevent that horrible smell with a taste from reaching their sense, to no avail.

The disgusting zombie's Black head on the left is dead, the skin on her face rotting away, leaving only a part of her right cheek with a bit of brown, slimy flesh, some dull strands of yellow hair hanging from the back of its skull, and the rest, a skeleton with an eye dangling from a thin tube that comes from within.

White's head is in complete control of the body; her eyes are two swirling red vortexes, her black, rotting teeth are broken and sharp, her rotten purple gums secretes grey puss, what little remains of her hair on the left of her head is covered with Black's rotten face flesh, and her body is bulky, her skin is greyish-brown, pruned, sagging, and slimy, the top of the black and white dress has a massive hole on the torso, the white parts of the skirt are covered with something yellow, and like its hands, the feet have large claws, but by the looks of things, they appear to be for balancing, rather than attacking.

The girls gulp when that zombie fairy swings her arms around without effort, meaning she can move her body with ease, then Satori nervously whispers "d-don't move. I-I'll take care of this," leaving Aya looking at her with confusion, and nodding quickly, accepting her friend's request.

* * *

><p>The purple-haired mind-reader stands up, takes a few steps toward the zombie Spring Fairy, then commands "cover your eyes!"<p>

Aya scrunches up into a ball and hides her face behind her knees, and then the satori girl raises her spell card and loudly declares "Light Sign, Luminaire!"

The girl pushes herself a little harder, and summons ninety-two percent of her power when that spell card activates, and soon after her entire body is covered by pure light, so bright it makes the light form the sun look like a dim bulb in a black room.

That light reveals to the girls they are getting close to the Nameless Hill, as the road before them has some rocks taking the fields, and growing in numbers further ahead.

The light expands and stretches away from her as a massive dome that rapidly takes the entire garden, and successfully pushes away zombie Lily, while it disintegrates all the decaying flowers.

The dome of light goes as far as the remains of Yuka's house, where it stops after surrounding the entire cabin, and disappears shortly after.

What remains of that cozy house is a single broken piece of the west-side wall, and a single dirty, white window on the first floor, the only parts of the house that weren't covered with withered plants.

Back at the smelly flowerbed, Satori drops on her knees, exhausted after having used so much of her power, and chocking when trying to breathe in the oxygen needed after such exertion.

Before she passes out from breathing so much of that foul smell coming from the soil and the zombie, a small and gentle tornado appears below her face and graces her nose, mouth and lungs with purified air.

Aya steps in between her friend and the zombie, and then says "rest for as long as you need. This bitch is mine now."

Zombie Lily stands up again and glares, though is undoubtedly weaker, and struggles to keep steady on her rotten feet.

The tengu isn't at her best either, and struggles to keep steady as those cuts on her butt and upper thigh begin to burn her, though at least she knows that means she's healing.

The weakened monster snarls, and the tengu girl takes off, shooting a flash from her camera straight into those evil eyes and blinding the monster, then landing a vicious knee on that rotting stomach, sending that monster fairy roaring to the air.

As soon as Lily lands, Shameimaru rushes in after having locked on a few beams, and intends to cave in that face with the platform of her geta sandal, and blast the hole with those beams, but her plan fails.

The zombie fairy gurgles "ssspriIng!" and a thick concentration of red and blue bullets blast Aya all over the underside of her body, sending so many painful jolts to her brain, she loses her bearings as she stumbles backward, but somehow remains on her feet.

The tengu finds herself on the ground after feeling a pressure on her shoulders that doesn't let up, but it doesn't take her long to figure that the monster fairy is on top of her, so she takes her camera, lifts it near her own face, and shoots a flash that forces the weakened zombie to roll away while screeching in pain.

Aya takes the chance to get up, but still needs time to recover from those dizzying jolts of pain, while zombie Lily rolls backward to her feet and prepares to attack again.

The tengu maybe be a bit shaken, but she can still fight, and she takes one step back, winds her right hand back, and throws a powerful punch at the fairy's face the very moment the decaying monster rushes in.

That punch lands right on the mark, but on the wrong head, and Lily Black's rotten skull is sent flying away to the distance until it becomes a star, then, in the confusion, Lily White grabs the tengu's arm and takes a furious bite from that forearm.

The tengu reporter screams out loud when those teeth tear her skin and break her muscles, but manages to lift her left hand with her camera and flash the eyes of that monster, freeing herself, quickly follows with a kick that sends zombie Lily a few feet away, the roars in pain while retracting her bleeding arm and nestling it between her breasts.

The zombie fairy starts to roar, and runs around in a circle on one same spot over and over when the bit of vertebra left from Black's neck begins to bleed profusely.

Shameimaru quickly lifts her camera, locks all ten beams on that bleeding stump on the monster girl, and shoots without mercy, and even smiles vilely when her target drops on her knees and screams to the air after those beams touch that bone.

The crow girl takes a deep breath after all those pained spots on herself throb at the very same time, and although she manages not to fall, she still ends up on the ground when that vicious monster decides to go for the immediate kill.

Zombie Lily roars and snarls furiously as she tries desperately to take a bite right out of the tengu girl's chest, while Aya grunts as she pushes the monster away from her skin and fights the dizzying pain jolting her brain repeatedly.

Satori wants to move, but merely lifting her arm proves to be a very taxing chore, and can only watch as her friend struggles for her life on her own, yet again.

"_This isn't good. This fucking bitch is going to bite me. Satori is still recovering! I can't lose! I **won't** let this thing win!_"

As brave as her thought's may be, Aya's strength keeps waning, and in her hopelessness, anger starts to take over when she realizes that a warrior of her stature is losing to just one weakened fairy monster.

Her eyes begin to glow bright red, then zombie Lily grunts questionably, relaxes her body, then the reporter quickly pushes her away, stands on her feet, and readies her camera.

She stops her attack as soon as she takes notice of Lily's hesitance to move, then looks up at three black zombie fairies flying in a circle above her head, then whispers to herself "what the hell?"

Her thoughts turn on defeating all the monsters in one quick and easy blow, and right after that, the fairies above her fly to Lily, grab her arms and head, fly in front of the tengu, and wait in a still pose.

Aya stares, dumbstruck at the sight before her. Three zombie fairies grabbing hold of zombie Lily and waiting, as though having read her thoughts for an easy kill.

The mind-reader manages to lift her head long enough to see the questionable miracle unfold, then notices her friend's glowing red eyes and gasps.

"_Just do it, Shameimaru_," commands Tenma's voice at the back of her head, and without further hesitation, she lifts her camera, locks her beams on the targets, and clicks that shutter to finish the job.

The monsters don't even grunt, and just drop on the ground and close their eyes while the eerie glow slowly fades from the reporter's own eyes.

* * *

><p>Aya walks over to Satori and can see there is fear hidden behind her friend's eyes.<p>

After sitting next to the youkai, she also takes notice that the mind-reader has recovered considerably, though still looks a little tired.

She reaches for her friend's head, wanting to hold her before taking off and getting away from the smelly flowerbed, but the twitch from her partner makes her take her hand away, and think on what happened.

She thinks on how those fairies reacted to her own thoughts, and how they even posed the same way she saw them in her mind, then feels confused.

Satori reads the girl's thoughts, analyzes everything that happened in that moment when the zombie fairies came, then gasps and says "you really did control them. Even the Spring Fairy stopped attacking!"

The tengu looks to the ground, takes notice of the black soil she and her friend are sitting on, then looks away to ignore it and says "I don't know. They just came and held her in place. I don't really know what happened there!"

"But Aya-chan," insists the satori maiden, taking hold of her friend's left forearm and touching it lightly.

"No, I don't think you're becoming one of them, but you have to think of the possibilities! Maybe, if you master this, we won't have to fight anymore! We could have them escort us to that cauldron and help us end this faster!"

The reporter hides her face, not wanting her dear friend to see her crying out of fear and frustration while she admits "b-but I don't know how I did that. I c-*sob* can't do it again!"

Satori weakly reaches for, and grabs her friend around the neck, and with Aya's help, manages to give her a light and warm embrace, and while holding the unsettled tengu, she says "it's alright, it's ok. You don't have to feel guilty. It's not your fault."

"Bu-ut if I had *sob* known this before, buh-we would be done, and, Satori-"

She tries to say more, but she breaks down after the memories of their horrific adventure crash inside her mind, and place a terrible weigh on her very heart.

The mind-reader tries to remain strong, but seeing the story repeating itself in her friend's heart makes her share those heavy feelings, yet she steels herself and manages to speak as clearly as possible through her cracking voice.

"It's alright. I don't blame you. Aya-chan, we've been through too much, and we're almost done! Please, don-don't think of the past, and focus on now. That cauldron is there, where those clouds are rising from. Don't think on what could have been. Try to focus, so we can use it now."

The sobbing tengu manages to look to where the purple-haired girl is pointing to, carefully thinks on her friend's words, and slowly calms down enough to nod and reply "you... you're right. I'm sorry. Let's just get up, go there, f-fight our way to that cauldron and..."

She finally calms down enough to stop sobbing, and then starts to look around the dead Garden of the Sun along with her satori friend, and after a sniffle and using her right shoulder to wipe her nose, she says "there's something else watching us."

Satori nods, and then calmly says "I felt it this time as well. We better get out of here."

She stands up, wobbles a bit before getting her full balance, then gently grabs her friend by the hands and says "we move to that place at the Nameless Hill, Aya-chan, and we better not stop unless it's crucial."

Aya accepts Satori's help, winces when her right arm throbs as she gets up, then looks toward that goal, squints her eyes, and says "wait a minute. Satori-chan, that's a castle. The castle I saw in my dreams!"

Over in the distance, even in the darkness, a castle with several arena-like sections and large walls linking each section can be admired, though it's hard to make out for Satori.

Some of the sections have roofs, others are open-air arenas, but what's most impressive is how that large architecture manages to stretch on and around the Nameless Hill, and reaching the very end, at the highest point of the hill, is a castle-like building where the clouds keep rising from.

Before either girl can add another comment, a dreaded and familiar call reaches both girls' ears.

"**SHAAAAMEEEIIIMAAARUUUUU, YOU BIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

Both girls remain stationary for some time before both simultaneously gulp out loud.

Now they know they are being watched by something from nearby, and dread reaching that castle where Hatate is most certainly waiting for them.

Once again, the odds are against them, but they must press on, or they'll have to remain where they are and wait to be killed, or worst, turned into one of those creatures.

* * *

><p>Aya continues to hesitate on whether to move on or turn back, especially after having heard Hatate's 'sweet' voice again.<p>

"We've dealt with her already, we can do it again," confidently says Satori, snapping the tengu out of her hesitation.

The winged girl smiles at her friend, nods, and then softly says "yes, let's go then. Um, but are you sure you can move now?"

The mind-reader smiles confidently, punches herself on the chest very lightly, and says "I am quite alright. I have recovered quite a lot of my strength already," then grabs her armored third eye, looks at it curiously, and continues "might be thanks to Miss Nitori's machine thing on my third eye."

The girls smile at each other, share a few needed giggles, and then take each others' hand before moving on toward the dark architecture over in the distance.

After five minutes of walking, the girls feel they haven't made any progress, but at the moment, they are more concerned with the figure sitting on the ground deliberately getting in their way.

"And here's the next annoyance," grumbles Aya, looking a little tired and annoyed. "Satori-chan, don't get close to that one."

"I see. Do you think we can get her from here?" questions Satori as she narrows her eyes in an effort to see the dark figure for herself, instead of through the tengu's mind.

Somehow, Shameimaru can clearly see Medicine Melancholy sitting on the ground, grabbing clumps of dirt and rubbing them on her bare chest and limbs, and a sick-smelling poison cloud swirling around the poisonous zombie, taking at least five feet around her.

The zombiefied doll youkai herself is a mess. Her clothes seems to have melted off, leaving only her bloomers on her, which are stained by blood and purple slime, her messy, unkempt hair seems to have been bitten off on three places, leaving some slightly bald spots on her head, the skin around her eyes has been broken, yet her eyeballs, grey and dry, hang in the middle of the sockets, and seem to be held by a fleshy string from behind.

Her skin remains looking normal, but the poison she sweats out of her pores seems to be dangerous enough to cause her to want to rub it off with dirt, and that's when the reporter takes notice of the several little red spots on her skin; irritation from her very own poison.

"Aya-chan!" softly calls the mind-reader, tapping her friend on the right of her hip and alerting her of the hundreds of spirit-possessed dolls surrounding them from all possible angles, including the sky.

Said dolls vary in shape, color of hair and dresses, but all share eyes that look like light-green fireballs that seem to stare straight into the soul, and a ghoulish green flame that surrounds their heads.

From the distance, zombie Medicine hisses loudly "I am sorryyyy. I cannot moveee. Massster forbids it."

Aya frowns, raises her camera, and coldly says "we understand. Please don't hold it against us after we beat the living hell out of you and your _liberated_ dolls."

The poisonous girl smiles, opens her mouth as a creepy hiss escapes her crescent-shaped lips, and without moving a single muscle, she hisses "then pleasssse, don't hold it againssst meee for turninnn your bodiesss to burning heaps of poisonous ashhhh. After all, it isss what Master commandsss."

In that very instant, the tengu takes her maple fan from her back and swings it in a wide arc in front and above herself and Satori, cutting at least fifteen of those possessed dolls in half, and releasing the ghoulish, flaming-green, formless spirits from within.

The girls immediately take their flashing weapons on hand and shoot the formless spirits to prevent them from running away toward a specific spot, and after scanning the defeated spirits' destination more carefully, they can see more dolls lying in wait to zombie Medicine's right.

The poison youkai's red crescent smile becomes a perfect frown, her grey eyes start to clack as they spin in place, then she angrily hisses "leeeave them aloneee, bulliesssss!"

Su-San slowly flies out of hiding from behind the zombie, her blonde hair and eyes seemingly normal, while the rest of her body looks like the bark of a petrified tree, her little dress is stained with what looks like oil, and after glaring at the girls, in Medicine's same, though echoed voice, she demands "sssstop picking on my friendsss!"

Obviously not listening to the monsters, the mind-reader takes a spell card out of her pocket, raises it above her head, then the tengu grabs that hand, pulls it down, and says "don't! I can't take them on my own!"

Satori nods, pockets the spell card and readies an orb of light in front of her third eye, then says "you can count on me."

After a quick nod, Aya swings her fan forward and slices ten more dolls in half, allowing her partner to shoot her beams to finish off those spirits within.

Medicine and Su-San snarl, roar pathetically, and then angrily hiss "**sssstop hurting my friendsssss! The fight is with meee!**"

After a furious hissing roar, the poison around the zombie expands several feet, and both living girls are immediately caught in it.

They immediately feel the poison take effect, and now their bodies feel like they are full of thorned clumps of lead, particularly inside their very joints.

"S-Satori-chan! Kuh! We have to get out of here," grunts the black-haired girl as she slowly moves away from the poisonous gas.

The purple-haired girl yelps softly and groans lightly as she moves her legs, then grunts in a high-pitched tone "hurts... like hell. D-do something, please."

Aya lifts her trembling right arm with great effort and tries to swing her fan, but her body is too sluggish to make nothing more than a mere whisper from the swing, so the poison remains where it is.

"It's no use. Our only chance is to get away from this," grunts the winged girl as she fights to keep on her legs.

Satori suppresses a sob after taking another step away from the poison, then turns her shaking head to look at her struggling partner, and weakly grunts "don't give up. We can-**AAH! ...AAIIIAAAAAAHHHH!**"

"Satori-chan! SATORI-CHAN!"

The mind-reader's continuous screaming fills the tengu's heart with despair, causing her own poisoned blood to flow fast through her veins, and make her body twice as heavy.

Unknown to the reporter, underneath the thick poison cloud, several possessed dolls have cut the mind-reader's left calf and ankle with sharp razors, and are currently biting her head and sticking their sharp hands in her shoulders and hips, opening holes in her skin that allow the poison to seep into her body and make her own blood feel like magma is flowing below her very muscles.

The girl's screams of pain makes Aya so anxious, she unknowingly moves her entire body effortlessly while inside that cloud of poison, and she rapidly dives below the cloud, then all grows silent.

***SLASH***

***CRACK***

***SPLOSH***

Blades of light and bright flashes break through the thick purple mist, followed promptly by the blurs of Aya with Satori on her back after they jump away from it.

"*Pant* Th-*pant* thank you, A. Aya-chan," manages to say the bloody and out-of-breath girl.

The tengu's eyes glow red once more, and after a furious growl, she says "don't thank me yet! The bitches' are coming after us!"

Zombie Medicine and Su-san fly after the live girls with that creepy red crescent smile glowing in the darkness on the large doll, those disgusting eyes spinning in place, and her poison following after her.

The little monster hisses long and loud, then sings in a hiss "I am going to kill youuuuuu~", while Su-San scowls and demands "ssstay PUT, you two!"

The remaining forty dolls rise from the ground in front of the girls, and fly straight toward Aya and Satori, making the tengu groan in defeat after she realizes she cannot even dive to save their lives, then both girls gasps when all those dolls fly past them and head straight to their masters.

Zombie Su-San grunts as she fights against the dolls, while zombie Medicine grunts and roars furiously, then hisses anxiously "n-no! There can't beeee two MASTERSSSSSS!"

"**Two masters?**" question the girls at the same time right after landing.

They quickly look up to the sky and watch as the possessed dolls hold the poisonous zombie and her pet doll six feet above the ground underneath their poison cloud, giving Aya and Satori clear shots at the monsters' eyes.

Though the mind-reader is hurt, she raises her flashing weapon alongside the crow girl, but stops herself from flashing when she reads her friend's mind.

The reporter takes two steps toward the trapped zombie girls, raises an eyebrow, then her eyes glow brighter as she furiously asks "what the hell did you just say? What did you mean by 'two masters'?"

Zombie Medicine begins to laugh, and progresses to hiss a frightening cackle, then faces the reporter, smiles that creepy crescent smile, and asks "wouldn't youuuu like to knowww?"

As the monster continues her cackle, she spits out green poison fumes and thick orange slime from her mouth, then is quickly joined by Su-San, who laughs and spits bits of orange drool that appears to home in on the tengu as they drop from her lips.

"MOVE", commands Satori, snapping Aya from her confusion so she moves away from the poisons, then both shoot powerful flashes without stopping, until Medicine and Su-San die, and their poison leaves with what little wind blows from the east, or gets absorbed by the dirt below.

The possessed dolls release the poison youkai and her tiny counterpart, slowly descend in front of the girls, then all the spirits leave the possessed bodies, and wait in mid-air.

The girls look at each other, and although a little frightened by the tengu's glowing eyes, Komeiji nods along her friend, then they face the obedient little spirits and shoot their flashes without question.

* * *

><p>After tending to Satori's wounds, using a few drops from one of her divine water bottles and a small cloth, Aya helps her partner on her feet, and they resume their walk toward their goal, being cautious as they walk through the seemingly dead dolls and zombie girls.<p>

After passing through, the mind-reader sighs with relief, then glances over to the tengu and hesitantly says "um, I think I'm healed up, s-so it's ok if you let me go now," but then thinks "_please say no! Please say no!_"

Shameimaru wraps the mind-reader's arm around her neck tighter, she grips her friend's hip more securely, tightening the embrace, and softly says "no way. I have to make sure you're a hundred percent before I let you go, Satori-chan."

That satori youkai can't believe how happy she feels right now, but hides her excitement by turning her blushing face away and speaking as calmly as possible. "A-alright. Um, thank you very much, Aya-chan."

That reporter is as delighted as the mind-reader, and is quite glad her friend can't read her mind right now, or she might get slapped, especially if she sees herself naked in that crow's thoughts.

Regardless, she manages to block some of her thoughts as a blissful feeling fills her entire body, healing her wounds and woes, probably doing the same for the satori girl, and for ten whole glorious minutes, the girls walk toward their goal in an elated state.

The castle on the hill suddenly becomes more visible to Aya, and just like that, her elation leaves her.

Her eyes begin to glow blood-red, her limbs and her stare become cold, and the crow girl comes back to the harsh reality that she and her dear girl are walking down a death road, surrounded by undead creatures, and are headed toward an eerie and probably dangerous castle, where that accursed cauldron and hated 'Master' awaits them.

The purple-haired girl quickly notices how stiff the crow tengu has become, and turns worried eyes to her friend's face and asks "are you alright? ...Hey, what's wrong?"

That winged girl slowly begins to tighten her grip on Satori's wrist and waist, and though at first it seems like harmless toying-around, the youkai girl begins to grunt when she starts feeling pain.

She quickly notices their difference in strength when she tries, but fails to break herself free, then desperately calls "Aya-chan, stop! That hurts!"

When the mind-reader gazes upon that dark, cold face, she gasps with fright and tries to break free with all her strength, but all she manages to achieve is to make that tengu turn her full attention on her.

No matter how loud and often Satori calls, it seems Aya is in a complete trance, in a completely different world, and now she holds the mind-reader by both wrists and appears to be ready to do some damage.

Komeiji manages to pull the crow girl's body easily, but that grip is impossible to break for her, and left with no more options, she screams and shoots a flash from her third eye, startling Shameimaru and finally breaking free.

They both fall on their backs to the ground, then the reporter springs back up on her feet, looking nervously all around and asking "what? What happened? W-where are we? Satori-chan, what happened?"

She quickly look upon the satori's terrified face, notices how her own friend crawls away from her, then, when the realization hits her, the tengu grips her own cheeks, grinds her teeth, then screams "what happened? Satori-chan, are you alright? Ugh! What the hell did I do?"

The mind-reading girl manages to calm herself down after a gulp, and then nervously shouts "I don't know! Yo-your mind went blank, a-and then you started to-to squeeze my wrists. I-I had to flash you to get away."

The glow in Aya's eyes fades as the girl takes two steps back, starts to breathe hard through her mouth, then finally whispers "I... I'm sorry. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know; I didn't notice."

She holds her head with both hands by the sides and exclaims "argh! I'm going mad! I'm so STUPID! I just saw that castle, and started thinking about that dream this morning, and then..."

"**RRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!**"

Both girls' attention turn to the road behind them when Su-San's furious roar breaks the desperate and awkward moment, to both girl's luck, and as she flies closer to her killers, she angrily threatens "I'll break a hole in your necks and poison your **very bloodstream!**"

Satori stands up, shoves Aya out of the way, shoots a pair of beams straight at the doll's eyes, and then jumps out of the way.

Su-San screeches as she falls, crashes against a purple barrier, and her head blows up, spilling a vile-smelling orangey purple liquid, and sending bits of plastic-like skin flying to the sides.

Her eyeballs bounce twice on the ground before rolling away from the body, and then a small gap opens up underneath the little monster, sending it and its bits and pieces elsewhere.

The girls blink twice, look around themselves, then realize they are inside a large dome made out of Yukari's purple barrier, then the tengu groans and says "oh great. Now comes Yukari! Awful timing, don't you think?"

The mind-reader winces when her friend looks over to her, causing the girl to frown sadly and say "I... I'm sorry. I'll, um, just be over he-"

"No, I'm sorry Aya-chan! I was just a little frightened, b-but I'm alright now. Really!"

The urgency in Satori's voice matches the anxiety she feels toward her friend's sad face.

It hurts her to be the cause of such pain, and she can see it in Aya's heart, that she is also hurt for having caused the satori maiden such pain and uncertainty.

Both girls remain as they are, not saying a single word to each other for a while, then very suddenly both rush to each other for a tension-releasing embrace, where the reporter says "we're losing it, Satori-chan. The closer we get to that place the worst we both get."

The elder Komeiji nods twice while pushing her head between the tengu's chest and stomach, and then softly cries "I'm scared that after all of this, we'll end up killing each other instead."

The winged girl can't think of anything to say about that, for she too has been thinking the same, especially after that dream.

The girls remain holding each other in the center of that barrier, waiting for the inevitable intervention by zombie Yukari, while at the same time, trying to comfort each other and maybe raise their hopes, somehow.

* * *

><p>A few minutes after getting trapped, the girls sit on their knees on the ground, having gotten tired of waiting for that gap zombie to appear.<p>

They are now at the entrance of that rocky road they saw before, and sit with their backs against one of the smaller rocks, which is as tall as their torsos, and wide enough to be a base for a sturdy house.

They sit three feet away from each other, still feeling uncertain of what might happen between them, and keep looking to the ground in front of their knees.

The silence between them is unnerving, and the slow and constant whooshing of the wind outside that barrier is making them feel more tense by the minute.

Aya takes notice of her rising tension, and fearing what she might do if she loses control again, she takes a deep breath, looks to her friend, and asks "so, how are we going to deal with that 'master' gal; whoever she is?"

Satori slowly raises her head to meet with the tengu's gaze, sighs while closing her eyes to think, then says "if it's that girl you are thinking of right now, I would say we'll have to put extra effort on both our parts."

Both girls remain staring at each other for a whole minute, though it feels more like thirty to them, then the mind-reader sighs and asks "what are we doing? Something strange happened back there, so what? We shouldn't push each other apart like this."

The tengu reporter gulps, smiles weakly, and says "it's this whole thing. It's so confusing. The more I try to forget those memories that awoke in my dreams, the harder it gets for me to keep up with reality!"

She starts to shiver, and her eyes start to glow again, though dimly, then she grasps her black hair and tip of her ears as she anxiously hisses "it's like, that cauldron, those clouds, they speak to me! Their voices come through clearer whenever we take another step forward! They tell me I'm at war, and I have to fight, or I will die. YOU will die."

The cold chill on her winged back is quickly overwhelmed by a soothing warmth, a funny, fuzzy feeling tickles away the anxiety in her heart, and she subconsciously places her right hand on Satori's own after she realizes the mind-reader is embracing her from behind.

"If you ask it of me, I will lock those memories in the deepest parts of your mind, and throw away the key in the hottest parts of hell."

Aya wants to speak up, ask what is going on, but her friend's words reach her quickly, and so she rearranges her thoughts.

After the purple-haired girl presses her cheek against the tengu's, the reporter girl sighs, and softly says "no. I don't want to forget those days. They were rough, but I learned a lot from them, and without them, I could go back and repeat those mistakes."

Satori closes her eyes as she lets out a long sigh, and says "a good choice, my friend."

The girls finally take notice of how quiet everything is around them, and while looking around, the winged reporter says "it's quiet. Shit's gonna rain down!"

Both girls quickly stand straight with their flashing items raised and readied.

Shortly after, they can hear slow steps and endless moans of what may be human zombies, coming from all around the barrier they are in.

They anxiously wait for the monsters to enter through those purple walls, and then Yukari's ribboned gap opens up before them.

Yukari Yakumo pops right out of that gap with just four bits of hair remaining on her head and wriggling around like snakes, the left side of her face appears to have been recently blown up by an explosive danmaku bullet, leaving an empty eyes socket and half of her skull visible, her dress is a tattered mess of holes and wounds, yet she still coos and giggles happily as she waves that burned right arm around as though greeting the girls.

Aya gasps at the sight of the zombie gap youkai, and concernedly asks "Yukari? What happened to you? Did... you get punished for helping us?"

Satori gulps, gently pulls her partner's arm to get her attention, and says "I understand your concern Aya-chan, but I think she's not here to chat."

The zombie in the broken border giggles and coos happily, acknowledging the youkai's guess, then lifts her fan, opens it in front of her face, and hisses threateningly, forcing those girls to get into attack position as she prepares herself to attack hard.

* * *

><p>The old gap youkai thrusts herself between the girls with her fan in front, apparently trying to split them in half with it.<p>

The tengu and the satori shoot flashes as they jump away, only to watch how zombie Yukari pulls another fan from a gap, and blocks both flashes from reaching her face, which is obviously the only weak spot on her.

Not sure if that is true, Aya locks several beams on the many holes on the zombie's dress, one to her face, and picking up on her friend's idea, Satori does the same.

They shoot those beams, and move away, just to watch Yukari bat the two beams headed to her head with her fans, and the other beams hit her body, but doing nothing that indicates the monster's weakening.

"What do we do? She keeps blocking that head of hers with those fans," complains Satori from one side of the enclosed battlefield.

The tengu roars from the other side, then angrily exclaims "damned bitch had to have a body immune to flashes! FINE! We'll HIT 'ER WITH DANMAKU!"

Before the mind-reader's advice against bullets can even begin, then angry tengu girl furiously swings her fan around and sends a shower of blue and red bullets in ring formations at the gap zombie.

Yukari giggles and coos, flies away from the bullets, and swings her fans around herself, while black gaps open up around her and absorb those overpowered bullets.

The moment those gaps close up the reporter starts stomping the ground while grumbling loudly and incoherently, not taking notice of the several white gaps opening around her.

The mind-reader tackles her friend the moment ten white bullet streams fly out of each of those gaps, and pulls her partner along while shouting "we have to work together! You distract her, and I'll shoot, deal?"

Aya nods, pulls Satori to her arms, holds the purple-haired girl princess style, and then flaps her wings as she jumps away from the rest of those homing bullets.

The mind-reader looks back and watches as those bullet streams explode more violently than she expected, gulps, then says "um, let's do this quick, ok."

The tengu smiles, flaps her wings once to gain some altitude, turns before crashing against the purple barrier, then throws her friend to the air as she attacks zombie Yukari directly.

Once at point-blank range, Shameimaru swings her fan and generates a strong gale that makes the zombie flinch, then roars as she shoots several flashes, at the monster's face, but somehow finds herself being sent flying backward to the ground after getting struck on the face by one of the closed fans.

Immediately after opening both fans, the zombie woman opens several gaps around herself, then starts blocking beams of light with amazing skill, and trapping heart bullets with ease.

The falling satori maiden gasps and flaps her arms around when trying to fly back up, but ends up getting hit by the back of a closed, flying fan on the nose, and falling to the ground like a screaming, spinning star.

The girls lift their heads to watch that zombie gap hag catch that tossed fan without breaking a sweat, then both gasp and scream when the white gaps open up to return the heart bullets in the form of spark bullets.

Those bullets explode violently on the girls' bodies, and all they can do is curl up into balls and scream as they are smothered by continuous explosions from returned bullets.

When the explosions stop, both girls stand up to the playful giggles of zombie Yukari, and soon discover their damage is minimal.

Aya explores her burned arms, dusts of the black sooth, and angrily mutters "this bitch is just toying with us."

Satori dusts her butt and hips, and then causally says "yes, I think she is, but I prefer that, than having my limbs chewed off."

The tengu snarls, raises her right fist, then furiously shouts "hey, you old hag! If you're just playing around, then why don't you just lie down and let us flash that ancient skull of yours!"

The purple-eyed girl doesn't really know Yukari that well, but even she knows that reporter's angry taunt went too far, and gasps loudly to let her partner know of the mistake made.

"What? If she's just here to piss us off, the job's done. She should let herself get killed already," casually replies the black-haired girl.

Zombie Yukari's gaze becomes dark, her coos and giggles become eerily cold and ominous, and she begins to rise to the air while easily holding above her head a tiny black orb with purple lightning bolts scattering around it.

Both living girls gulp, then the mind-reader nervously says "a death spell. Anything that touches it is sent to the void as a spirit, to wander around infinity for an eternity."

The reporter clicks her tongue and scoffs, then says "calm down, it's tiny. We just have to dodge it and keep an eye open in case it's homing."

Yukari's next giggle is sinisterly chilling, then, after reaching twelve feet in the air, her right eye glows scarlet, the dark orb grows to twice the size of a large beach ball, and the power around it is so much, gales form inside the barrier.

When the girls lay their eyes on that insanely powerful orb of death, both open their mouths, but cannot comment, their skins turn pale, their faces turn blue, and just stare.

They both snap out of their shock, and quickly begin shooting danmaku bullets of all shapes and sizes they know, but the border manipulator opens those gaps, and the bullets become fodder for the void.

As a final desperate attempt, Aya grabs her camera and tries to shoot one beam after another toward the gap zombie's face, but the monster deflects them with her fan without showing the slightest bit of effort from her part, and so the winged reporter lets her arms drop in defeat.

She looks at Satori, who looks back to her, and then both girls share a weak smile.

They reach and grab each other's hand, then the tengu gulps and says "well, we tried. We gave it our best shot."

The mind-reader chuckles weakly, and then says "I see she was powerful before. I guess we did give it our best, Aya-chan."

Zombie Yukari starts to cackle as she prepares to throw that orb, and on the ground, the nervous satori asks "will you stay with me in the void?"

The crow tengu nods once, and softly says "I'll take good care of you."

The girls close their eyes and face up to the gap zombie, then hear a dreadful buzzing noise, and think they are going to die soon.

The magical winds get stronger with every second; they can both feel a heat source getting warmer as it gets closer, then the winged girl sobs and cries to herself "I'm sorry Reimu. I failed you."

"Aya-chan, look!"

Satori's call makes Aya open her eyes and gaze upon a beautiful thick beam of multiple pastel colors breaking through Yukari's barrier, and consuming the death spell with ease.

The girls follow the beam's source to cheer Yuka on, then shriek and gasp in surprise when they see Marisa in the sky, who shouts "I'll keep Sukima busy! You aim those flashes to her ears, you understand?"

The living girls look at each other with confusion, then the zombie-like witch shouts "trust me! Now get to it, before she recovers!"

The girls raise their flashing items, though can't shake off their shocked face, and immediately head toward the gap zombie to finish her off.

* * *

><p>Marisa's Final Spark ends, but the witch continues to shower Yukari with every spell she can come up with to keep her focused on the sky.<p>

Meanwhile, Satori and Aya run closer to the gap youkai from below, aim their beams at the old zombie's ears, and then shoot ten beams each.

Zombie Yukari takes notice of the attack and readies her fans, manages to block three beams from each side, but is caught off guard by the rest, which sway around the fans while trying to hit those ears, though hit the eyes or back of her head.

The monster woman roars in pain, whines while fanning her eye and socket with both fans, and then snarls when laying her eye on the grounded girls.

She swings the right fan and sends a shower of blue kunai with poisoned tips at the girls, then roars when Marisa's green sparks and explosive bottles strike her on the back, and turns her full attention on the grinning, bald, zombie witch.

Both gap zombie's eye and empty socket glow red, then she starts opening square borders from where beams spread toward the witch, and roars with frustration when they crash against her own purple barrier.

In her rage, Yukari quickly dispels the top of the barrier, and Marisa yelps when she realizes what happened, however, she hides a smile from the border youkai as she flies higher to the air after succeeding in getting rid of that barrier.

The angry zombie woman is about to give chase, but she stops, opens her fans, deflects two beams, then gets struck on the face by the grounded girls' attacks.

The half-faced woman's roars and groans have completely replaced the giggles and coos, and now she starts opening up random gaps on the ground that lead to the outside world, hell, and the void.

Aya and Satori hold hands tight, and pull each other out of any gap the other may fall into, while running away from the desperate attack, then the zombie-like witch dive-bombs the zombie, getting the woman's attention, and saving the mind-reader from plunging into a busy street in the outside world.

That poor purple-haired girl drops on her hands and knees and breathes hard and fast through her mouth.

The tengu pats her friend's back to help her relax, and asks "are you alright? What happened? I didn't see anything hit you."

The purple-haired youkai takes one final deep breath, and then says "hoo-boy, what the hell was that? The moment I fell in that world, I felt my very spirit getting weak and try to leave my body."

Shameimaru sighs, and with disappointment in her tone of voice, she says "oh yeah. That world lacks faith and magic."

"OI! If you don't stop kissing down there I'm outta here!"

The girls look up at Marisa, and marvel as she sways, dives, rolls, and does all in her power to dodge Yukari's furious attacks; even goes as far as dropping from her broom and swinging around it like an acrobat.

The gap zombie has filled the entire sky with beams that split into more beams in specific spots, rice-shaped blue bullets, violet orbs, and purple arrows that home in on the witch, all while chasing after that human zombie herself, in an obvious attempt to eat her.

Aya and Satori quickly stand up, then aim their flashing items to the woman's ears again.

Twenty beams spread from the girl's items, and swivel around as they fly fast toward zombie Yukari.

The gapping zombie enters the gap she was sitting on, then appears right in front of Marisa, grabs her arms tight, and takes a bite right out of her elbow, breaking her left arm off.

The witch feels nothing, save for an odd sensation of wanting to, but not being able to move her hand, which seriously annoys her.

"Augh! Dammit, there goes my arm again," curses the zombie witch while trying to shoot a spark at Yukari's eyes with her other hand, but stops struggling against the gap zombie's grip, grins, then says "finally! See you later, old gappy."

The zombie woman shrieks and screams when all twenty beams of pure light strike her head from all angles possible, then lets Marisa go and falls off her gap as she plunges to the ground.

Her danmaku disappears, what little hair remained on her head flutters away with the wind as it falls from her skull, but she's not about to give up.

Zombie Yukari opens another gap below herself, then appears right in front of the girls, snarls as she grabs both by the necks, pushes them both on the ground, then stares.

The girls are still unsure of what just happened, and Yukari has already chosen who to bite first, throws her face straight at Aya's breasts, but shrieks and rolls away while holding her right ear.

The tengu looks around, wondering what happened, while Satori springs up and furiously shouts "leave her **alone** already!"

She flashes Yukari and sends her rolling away after kicking her on the ribs, then shouts "your damned master thinks this is all so damned funny! Well it's not!"

She shoots another flash right in front of the zombie's eyes, sends her rolling farther away after kicking her on the face, and shouts "that poor girl and I have been through enough of all your crap, and now you try to bite her breasts because it's funny? GOT TO HELL!"

Zombie Yukari moans as she tries to get back on her feet, but all she gets are several beams to the head and eye, and another hard kick on the shoulder, then Satori continues "and what about me? My life! My sister, my pets, what few friends I had! They are all brainless monsters that follow that damned master's orders around now!"

The zombie woman groans as she shakes while pushing herself back up, spits out dark blood, and then yelps when she gets another flash to the face and a kick on the eye that sends her flying three feet away, and ends up with her back smashing against her own barrier.

The furious mind-reader quickly chases after the zombie, lifts her third eye, gathers light in front of it, then shouts "I know you can hear me, you good-for-nothing master! We're coming for you, and when we get you, we're bathing you in that damned cauldron before spilling it all to the ground!"

She readies to shoot, and then Yukari lunges forward, grabs the mind-reader by the shirt, and thinks "_well done sweetie. Tee-hee. You picked up on that naughty thought of mine. How thrilling._"

Satori gasps when the ghostly image of the deceivingly beautiful Yukari; her long blond hair flowing naturally, and her purple eyes shimmering with power and life; appears before her in a semi-physical manifestation, and smiles.

Yukari giggles in her mind to calm the purple-haired girl down, and then thinks "_you did quite alright; both of you, but rage can only take you so far. You need to keep your cool and **think. things. through.** You left that girl alone, and doing that inside the castle will cost you. Those inside may, or may not be as powerful as me, but that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous. Some will be more dangerous than myself, though none as dangerous as that cauldron itself. Please, remain together. Don't get separated. Watch over each other, and clean my Gensokyo of all this garbage that witch spread._"

"Satori-chan!" Aya's call comes at the same time as the ten beams that knock Yukari off the mind-reader, and finish her off for good, leaving that corpse on the ground, where the beautiful image slowly disappears.

The tengu quickly inspects the mind-reading girl, sighs when she sees no physical damage, then says "I'm so relieved! Satori-chan, you had me worried there for a moment. Don't go off on your own when we're dealing with such dangerous monsters, please!"

When her friend fails to answer, the reporter gets her face closer to the youkai's, and softly asks "Satori-chan? What's the matter?"

The barrier around them vanishes, revealing to them that there were no zombies outside of those purple walls, but before Aya makes that obvious observation verbal, Satori grabs her shoulders and says "she was trying to help us all along! She wants us to defeat the master and spill that cauldron!"

Both girls remain where they are, staring into each others' eyes, unaware that the fully-recovered witch has just landed to their right.

* * *

><p>Shameimaru grabs her friend by the shoulders, gently pushes her away, nods to acknowledge what was just told, then asks "what I really want to know is, why did you run off like that? All those things you said to her... It's like I was talking through you there."<p>

The mind-reader turns her blushing face away, and hesitantly says "um, she was, er, g-going to bite you there, to, erm, hurt and tease you, and that pissed me off."

The tengu chuckles, happy that her friend would go to such extents to keep her safe, then, as if all is right with the world, she says "thank you for taking care of me Satori-chan. Now..."

Her face turns dark, her eyes begin to glow, making her face look cold and ominous when she turns around with her camera held tight, and coldly says "I think we better deal with the godsdamned witch from hell, before she tries to harm either of us."

With an equally dark face and slightly glowing eyes, the satori youkai aims her third eye toward her dear friend's point of interest, and says "indeed. She's turned completely by now, I'm sure because I cannot read a single..."

Marisa stands several feet away from them in the middle of the road to the hill, with her hands raised above her head, her Hakkero and her broom on the ground, and somehow managing to show some form of determination in her eyes.

Satori stares at the witch for a little while longer, then gasps and says "a thought!? Aya-chan, she hasn't turned yet!"

"She's probably waiting for us to lower our guards to throttle us. I won't fall for that," coldly replies Aya, taking her fan on hand and pointing it threateningly at the zombie-looking girl.

"No, that's not it," insists the purple-haired girl, getting in the tengu's way and saying "we need to hear to what she has to say! Trust me, please!"

The tengu girl glares at the witch for a little longer, then lowers her sight to look at her partner, lowers her fan and camera just slightly, and says "just stay where you are while you speak!"

"Thank you mind-reader," begins the zombie witch, before sighing and saying "I obviously did not come here to fight with you, or kill you, or eat you, or I would have let Sukima there disintegrate your bodies."

She crosses her arms around her waist, shivers as she shyly looks away, and continues "no. I came here to apologize, and to tell you two something very important."

"The apology is not for the mess I have caused because of my desire for immortality. I apologize because, before my fight with Nitori, I thought you two were at fault for my appearance. I thought of sparking your asses to the next kingdom, because I **truly** believed that what I caused, this experiment of mine, the terrible effects they caused... I never dreamed they would have lasted this long."

Her exposed eyes start to water as she tries to look around to hide her face, while continuing "I thought this would last a month or two, and that everything would go back to normal, that Reimu would somehow solve the incident without having to sacrifice my immortality. Th... the burden I placed on you two. I am so sorry."

"Boo-hoo," mocks Aya, holding herself back from flashing that witch on the face, and then furiously says "it's too late for that shit! Your stupid human brain can't possibly imagine all the **SHIT** we've been through! The **SHIT** that so-called master has put us through, Suwako knows for what!"

"We've had limbs melted off, bones bitten through, seen friends turned to monsters, walked through dead villages, thrown to a hellish heaven, dropped into a **true** demon's castle, sent around Gensokyo, then Makai, where a bitch placed a curse on Satori; our fucking minds are breaking to pieces as we **SPEAK**, and you are apologizing for all of that now! **FUCK YOU!** When we spill that thing, I'm coming after **YOU!** YOUR LIFE IS MINE, KIRISAME!"

The satori youkai looks calm and serene as she gets closer to her friend and stares at the witch, but looking deep into her eyes, a slight glow can be seen, backed by an undeniable rage she's hiding.

She raises her right hand, a cold gust blows between the three girls, and the mind-reader shoots a heart between Marisa's eyes after the wind stops, and darkly says "you got the sap out. I suggest you say what you came here to tell us, before I **personally** rip your pathetic human limbs off."

The zombie-like witch stands firm and with a straight face, having expected this reaction from both girls.

She would have wanted a better reaction, perhaps a softer response, but she is now well-aware of what she has done, and though not fully knowledgeable of what those girls have gone through, she knows very well she sent them straight to hell.

She takes a deep breath and sighs hard and loud, then nods and says "alright. About the important information I have for you two."

"First of all, you two have to understand that the reason of your immunity to this 'virus', as you all call it, is because I used personal items from each of you as catalysts for the spell. Meaning, those two items remained linked to you in a way, while they helped me overcome the secondary effects of that concoction, though a mistake I made using only yours without adding Kanako's blood, because... well, you see what I look like right now."

She looks at the tengu girl and says "Aya, I asked Nitori for a crow tengu's feather. I don't know how she got yours, but that's what I used. I recognized it from the funny shape it took at the tip. Only you can fly fast enough to cause your own feathers to bend outward."

A prideful smirk takes over the reporter's face as she looks to the witch, and says "well, I'm glad you appreciate my greatness. But you are still in my Deadly Black shit list!"

Ignoring those words, Marisa walks to her left, and continues "I know what Reimu did you the both of you, and your having your wings fully grown, even with that thing between those lewd mounds of meat..."

"Jealous much?" angrily taunts the reporter.

"...Is proof enough that my theory that you are at least ninety-nine percent immune to the virus, spell, or whatever the hell you want to call it, is absolutely correct."

Before the questions arise, the witch lifts her left hand, as if shushing the girls, and continues "as for your item, mind-"

"**HER NAME IS SATORI!**" furiously spits Aya, making Marisa flinch.

The zombie witch recomposes herself, gulps, and then says "sorry. As for your item, **Satori**, I took that large Tiger's Eye you kept in the upper drawer in the little cabinet next to your bed."

The next thing that witch experiences is the sensation of something blunt striking the right side of her forehead, and her body flying helplessly through the air while she nonchalantly admires the dark sky above them.

The furious Komeiji holds her precious stone on her right hand, which she holds in the air after having struck Marisa with it held tightly on her hand, and glowering at the offending witch she angrily says "yeah, I know! Thieving witch! I happen to have found it in your house after you went berserk! You're lucky you can't die, or I would feed your spirit to my pets after having broken your damned skull this very instant!"

The immortal witch touches the caved spot on her forehead as she stands up, clears her throat and says to herself "hit harder than I thought," and after standing up, that wound heals unnaturally fast while she says "right. I guess I deserved that one. Moving on."

She starts to move around the girls, holding her hands behind her back, while thinking hard on how to say the rest, then, after the fifteenth step, she stops, clears her throat, and then looks at both girls in the eyes.

"Understand, what I'm about to say will be difficult to accept, but you must, for your own good."

"Out with it," demands Aya. "No more bullshit and just say it. What do you mean we are ninety-nine percent immune? Speak!"

The zombie witch lowers the brim of her hat to hide her eyes as she coldly says "I never said the both of you were ninety-nine percent immune."

She raises her arm and points at the reporter, and exclaims "I said that **you** were ninety-nine percent immune. I'm afraid no other has that gift."

Before either living girl can ask or comment, the witch points at the mind-reader, and says "**you,** on the other hand, are only seventy-two percent immune."

The satori maiden gasps, covers her gaping mouth with her hands, while the tengu reporter angrily exclaims "you're begging for an ass kicking, bald bitch!"

* * *

><p>Before Aya gets busy ripping Marisa's rotting head off her decaying body, Satori stammers for a while, and then says "wh...what? Wait, but I thought... No, you must wrong! I-I've been struck many times, and-"<p>

"You've felt it, haven't you. The symptoms of the pre-transformation. I know you have, I can see it in your eyes."

Marisa's words hit home, and like a flash of lightning, the memory quickly returns, and fills Satori Komeiji's entire being; the very first time she was hit by one of those monsters' claws.

She drops on her knees to the ground, and is unable to hear the call of her partner as she worriedly rushes to her side and tries to keep her up on her feet.

The mind reader turns her head to the tengu, and softly says "that time, the first time I got wounded, by that mutant rabbit at Eientei. Aya-chan, I felt it. For a moment, I felt like I was transforming. I was so scared. I thought I was going to turn and try to kill you and Kogasa. B-but it all just stopped, s-so I didn't tell you about it."

"No, it's ok. I understand," softly says the winged reporter while holding the satori against her chest, and gently combing her purple hair with her hand, then suddenly turns to face Marisa and furiously shouts "**dammit, Kirisame! What's this? Some kind of sick, fucking game for you?**"

"But I've been wounded several times after that," quickly interrupts the mind-reader, wanting to hear more from the witch.

Marisa shrugs, revealing confusion with some concern in her face after her hat's brim springs up, and then says "you've been lucky so far, and I'm glad. But Aya, Satori, I am not just telling you this so that you can lose your minds with worry. I truly wish to help."

"With this knowledge, I can now explain a little more to you. You see, first of all, the reason Aya is almost totally immune, is because her feathers come from her very body."

She turns her sight to the mind-reader, and says "you can see it in my mind, I know, but I'll say it. The reason you are less immune to turning, is because that stone is obviously not part of your body, but you still had a strong attachment to it, which is why it still gave you such high levels of immunity."

Satori stares at the shiny stone on her hand for a bit, then softly says "of course. Koishi gave me this before she... closed her third eye off."

Aya has already locked all ten of her beams in the zombie-like witch's face, while said girl continues "and the reason I'm telling you all of this now, is because you need to know, so that you two take better care of each other while inside that place. That cauldron is evil, and I swear to whatever god you believe in, I think it's sentient, though only to some extent."

"Because I drank from it, **It** whispers to me, drowning out whatever that master's commanding, which is why I believe is the reason I am still in control of myself. Now, and this is very important, so pay close attention..."

The witch stops to make sure both those girls are keeping their full attention on her, then she takes a deep breath, and says "when you enter that castle, your immunity will diminish, and the closer you get to that forsaken cauldron, you'll be more susceptible to transform via scratch or bite, although, as long as you don't get hit, I **think** you should be fine."

"Think? **THINK?** Be more concrete," furiously demands Aya after releasing Satori from her arms to get closer to the hated magician.

"In fact, let's do something even smarter, you bitch! Why don't **YOU** get in there, **YOU **knock that cauldron down, and **YOU** fix this mess **YOU** caused!"

Both girls take immediate notice of the sudden stern change in the zombie girl's expression, then Satori sighs and says "so, the closer you zombies get to those clouds, the harder is for you to control yourselves."

Marisa nods and says "that's right. I already failed against it once, and it is obvious I will fail against it again."

As she speaks still images run through her mind, of Remilia screaming and roaring while thrashing about the library, and says "it started when Remilia came into the room, screaming her head off about Sakuya being dead. By then, we had all mutated, but it was not as bad as it is now. Reimu had her hair all shiny, Alice had skin, Byakuren was still her sweetly strict self, Nitori was..."

A tear escapes the black-and-white's eye as images of the cauldron losing a single drop from within it after Remilia starts flying around the room appear before her, and sadly says "anyways, that stupid bratty bitch came at me, and spilled a mere drop from the cauldron, and that's when all started going straight to hell."

Images of herself shooting her master spark at Alice, then at Nitori, then at Remilia, though missing her miserably, slowly slide around her mind, as she says "I remember claiming the cauldron's power as mine alone, and started shooting at the others for it, but Remilia got more and more aggressive, knocked me out, tore my hand, and threw me out of the mansion."

"After that, I heard her fighting with others before Flandre challenge her for that same cauldron, then I started hearing bloody gurgles and screams, and last I remember before letting myself pass out on that garden of theirs, was Flan being shot out of the mansion with a Spear of the Gungnir stabbed to her heart."

The images stop rolling, and Marisa cries silently, then looks at the living girls with a fake smile on her face, and says "you understand now, what you are dealing with. That thing will test you two! It turned me into a power-hungry bitch that attacked anyone, **FRIENDS**, for no real reason, and two sisters who loved each other more than anything into brainless beasts of pure hatred, and all because of that power."

Her tears suddenly dry up as she raises her hand, as though trying to grasp the clouds above her, and coldly says "but how can you blame us? That power, that promise of control, of EVERYTHING, and EVERYONE! Nobody would question your commands, everything and everyone would be yours forever, **no questions asked! THE WORLD WOULD BE YOURS!**"

The witch's face twists with madness and lust for power as she passionately continues "I would challenge Reimu and **COMMAND **her to lose, and then nobody would question my powers again! Anything I'd ever want would be **MINE!** Ha, ha, ha, ha! Gensokyo would be mine to keep in my pockets, and nobody would EVER be able to stop me!"

Marisa's mad laugh quickly becomes an insane cackle, and she raises her hands to the air, making herself look insane with thoughts of power, then she slowly stops, her cackles become sobs and whimpers, then she drops on her knees, and cries "but Reimu. She doesn't deserve that. Nor do you two. Nobody does! That is why I'm begging you, please stop that master and spill that liquid from that cauldron! Even Yukari fought against the mind control and got severely punished for helping you, but she wants Gensokyo back to the way it was! You have to stop this! Please!"

Aya and Satori stare at the sobbing witch in front of them, and can finally understand she's not a hundred percent immune to the madness of the zombie illness.

Out of pity, the tengu girl sighs, and then says "fine. We understand, you weak little human. We are the only two that are actually free from the 'Master's' control, so we must undo what you did, for the good of all."

"But **you** must understand, you will get absolutely no sympathy from us, or anyone else. When this is undone, you will remain the public enemy number one, and I will make sure you **stay** as such for a long time!"

After Aya's speech, Satori walks over to the tengu's side, glares at the witch, then adds "and I'll make sure to back her up on that. You won't be able to show your face outside your house for a long time, so I suggest you gather as many provisions as you can before we are done here!"

Marisa's reaction is dull and emotionless when she nods, then, after sighing away her desire to pick up her Hakkero and sparking the two understandably ungrateful youkai, she says "then please, go, and destroy the world I created. But remember to stay on your guard, try to not get touched while inside those castle walls, if you feel you are turning against each other, take any measures necessary to keep from killing one another."

"I will do whatever I can to help from here, but don't expect to see me near that place, unless, of course, it's to attack you. As I explained, that cauldron, the concoction in it, is pure evil."

The girls nod, then the witch steps aside to allow them to walk through the rocky path, and so they do, but before they are too far away, without turning around, the satori maiden asks "is there an antidote? What will happen to the people after we spill that garbage? What will happen to you, and to us?"

The zombie-like witch grins with annoying confidence, and says "to my knowledge, there is none. I don't really know what exactly will happen when you spill the cauldron. And who knows what will happen to all of us. Perhaps we will remain immortal monsters; perhaps we'll disintegrate under the rays of the sun. Only one thing remains certain, and that is that peace will return, I can guarantee you two that much."

The youkai girls turn their necks just slightly, enough for their glaring, glowing eyes to become visible to the witch, and without saying another word, they leave, walking through that rocky path headed toward the Nameless Hill, and that dreaded castle.

Five minutes after they girls are gone, and she is sure she is all alone, Marisa throws herself on her hands and knees to the ground and lets everything inside of her burst out through tears and loud sobs.

The thoughts of what's coming to her after all she did take her whole mind.

She can see the hateful screams, the shunning, the inability to leave her house due to fear of death by someone's; be it a human or a youkai's hand, the faces of hatred she'll receive from all her friends, all these thoughts flows inside her like a mad storm, and the more they repeat, the louder her sobs, and the hotter her tears become.

She wants to brush this off, ignore it the same way she would ignore breaking a hole on Patchouli's wall with her Master Spark, but she finds it impossible to do so, and the heavy feeling in her heart worsens.

Suddenly she finds herself split in two, and while one half of her wants the youkai girls to succeed, the other half wants to grab that broom and that miniature octagonal reactor from the ground, chase after the living girls, kill them, and infect them before they get too close to the castle.

She now curls herself up and hugs her knees while pushing herself against a large rock, and looks away from the broom and Hakkero so as not to give in to those dark temptations.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Aya and Satori have reached the long set of white stairs that lead straight to the front gates of that castle, and stare up.<p>

After staring for at least three minutes, the mind-reader looks at her friend with worry, and sweetly asks "Aya-chan, are you feeling alright? Can you do this?"

The purple-haired girl finds herself tightly embraced again, but before she can even think of anything to say, the tengu says "Satori-chan, whatever happens in there, know that I love you, and that... I am sorry for the way I treated you when we first met. I was so afraid of you, but now I can't be apart from you. Please, let's both do our best in there. Let's stay together, and if it seems we're going to turn on each other-"

"I won't allow that to happen, my dear, dear Aya-chan. I love you too, and nothing like that will happen to us, I promise you, I won't allow it."

Satori's reply and tight embrace return settles the tengu girl's anxious heart, and after they are both satisfied, they let each other go, push each other away, but remain holding hands and take simultaneous steps up those very long stairs.

As they walk up those stairs, the whooshing wind blowing around them feels unwelcome and hot, the castle itself feels like it's pushing them away, but they press on, determined to finally finish the curse Marisa started, and for Aya, to finally fulfill her promise to Reimu.

After three long minutes of walking up those steps, they finally reach the castle's large brownish-red gates, sitting silently across an ample white-bricked floor.

The castle itself looks far more frightening and massive from up close, with its stained ivory bricks making up a massive round coliseum-like architecture that looks orange from a distance, a few, small, rectangular windows separated by three feet from each other, surrounding the last bricks of the walls, high above, before the dome-like ceiling takes over the rest of the building's design.

And that is just one segment of the larger architecture the girls will have to walk through to make it to the precise point where the clouds keep pouring out from.

At the end of several domes, and snake-like paths that link them all, is a frightening architecture made to look like a grand European castle, built with red and black bricks placed at no particular order, most stained with blood and pieces of bodies, the towers' metallic, pointy tips are made to attract and channel all the bolts shot from those evil clouds, and use them for some unknown purpose, but the most disturbing feature is how the clouds pour out of the castle's back, looking like a reversed, fouled waterfall filling a brown river in the sky.

The girls feel a bit intimidated of what they see, but steel themselves and approach the gates, determined to move forward, without regrets, alongside each other to the very end.

As they get closer to those massive gates, they become painfully aware of how diminutive they look in comparison, and know well that the spell placed on those gates will make it impossible to open them by force.

Luckily, they take notice of the small indentation between the two colossal doors that coincidentally have the shape of those two, seemingly unimportant adornments they had to work so hard to get.

As soon as they get close to the indentation, Aya pulls her storage box from her pocket, Satori pulls her own, and both girls simultaneously pull out a crystal pyramid from said little storage boxes.

They stare at them as they turn them sideways, just like the shape on the gates show, then they slowly push their hands closer to each other until both pyramids' bases touch each other, and make a loud airy screeching sound right after making contact, and merge together as though they were never two items.

Satori hands Aya the now-combined item, the tengu walks over to the door and places the key on the keyhole, then stands back.

The crystal pyramids begin to glow as they make a louder, glassy screech, followed by the loud clunk of a door mechanism opening up, and soon after, the gates split up, and the door slowly opens up.

The girls gaze inside, and gasp as they examine what is the final destination of their overly exhausting, and mind-breaking journey.

* * *

><p>To be continued...<p>

Characters, spell cards and scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Satori's Light Sign, Luminaire, was created by Willie G.R., derived from Chrono Trigger/Cross' Luminaire

The castled at the Nameless Hill was created by Willie G.R. (similarities are strictly coincidental).

JAN 2 2012

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so? What do you think? Was this chapter exciting? Did it make you feel anxious? Did you feel how the levels of stress increase as those two youkai get closer to their goal? I sure hope so. I worked hard with this chapter to make it as emotion-stirring as I could. Now that the girls have reached the true final destination, I wonder what will happen now...**

**Now take notice that I will not be posting the next U.G. chapter as soon, for I will finish with Icicle Sukima's last two chapters, then come and finish Undying Gensokyo. I know some of you might be waiting for me to work on the TH/KH crossover already, but I ask that you be patient on that one. Once U.G. is done, I'll work on that fic, and that fic alone (maybe make a few one-shots?)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hope you stick around for the last chapters that look very promising :)!**

**A word of thanks to Kerreb17 for helping me with a snag I had with some confusing grammar, and to Captain Vulcan, for suggesting the use of war flashbacks for Aya, which added something very interesting to this story. Say, you should come to the Let's Danmaku forums. Full of crazy (no offense guys and gal) and interesting people, very friendly we lot are, and now we also have a suggestion thread and a community, "Patchouli's Library", so that if someone is looking for good Touhou fictions to read, they may find them suggested there.**


	15. Unwanted & Unexpected

_Aya Shameimaru here at a large castle, writing this quick note for possible future references._

_After landing at the Garden of the Sun, Satori and I moved on ahead toward the source of those damned clouds, which is definitely the Nameless Hill. On our way there, we were attacked by mutant flowers, a very disturbing Lily White that had merged with Black, but Black was dead already, then Medicine, who said something about there being 'two masters', and finally, Yukari, whom surprised us, particularly Satori, when admitting she was aiding us, though not really admitting it. To our surprise, Marisa helped us beat Yukari, and I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't. We would probably be dead, transformed, or stuck somewhere unnatural. Regardless of that, after defeating that gap monster, Marisa revealed to us that while inside this castle, our resistance to this virus thing will lessen, and that Satori has less resistance than me. That means I have to protect her at all costs. She must NOT get scratched or bitten while in here. Now then, about this place: Well, all I can say is, I'm surprised. The entrance, it looks just like the foyer of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I can only begin to imagine the kind of horror that awaits us in there now. If someone is reading this after I am dead, know that our journey was long and hard, and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. Not even this godsdamned 'master'._

Indeed, Aya, who finishes scribbling on her notepad, and Satori, who looks a little shaken, but determined to finish this unfair quest, stand at the front of a large round room that looks just like the mentioned mansion's entrance room.

The carpet is a little more vibrant-red, but the walls look as blood-red as the real mansion, the ceiling has a golden chandelier hanging elegantly above the entrance, what few windows can be seen are small and high above on the second floor, and some oil torches hang elegantly on the adorned walls.

There is one big difference, and that is that there are no stairs to the second floor, no balcony to impress guests, and there is only a single door at the end of the very long round room.

The mind-reader tugs her tengu friend by the skirt, and once she's got her attention, she points out the only window with a good view outside, and says "look. The clouds."

A light gasp escapes the reporter as she gazes upon those vile clouds, then she scowls as her eyes begin to glow red once more.

Those accursed clouds have taken a dirty rusty color, and the bolts crackling and snaking their merry way all around them have turned green.

The frightened satori whimpers when her heart starts beating fast and she loses the sensation on her limbs, and as if looking for some reassurance or some comforting words to settle her nerves, she nervously asks "w-what do you think this means, Aya-chan?"

The crow girl's own heart feels heavy and out of control, yet she seems to control her fear with anger, and in a cold tone replies "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the 'master' knows we are here."

Somehow, that actually helps Satori's heart to settle, and her hands to feel warmth again, and as determination starts to fill her up once more, she gulps down the last of her fright, and says "well then, that means we don't need to hide, or sneak around. Let's go."

Aya hesitantly nods to her friend, who has read the tengu's thoughts and softly says "I agree," then both begin taking slow steps toward the door all the way across the room.

After passing under the chandelier, the winged girl raises her arm to stop her friend, then the ceiling collapses, and from it drop two decayed bodies that crash face-first two feet in front of them.

One of the bodies is wearing a blood-stained red dress with a tattered and torn red cape, and has a few short strands of red hair on the crown of her head, and the other has half a sailor's short white pants stained with something purple and slimy, and has blonde hair with a bobble stuck around some of her dry strands.

"Humans! Chiyuri and Yumemi! Stand back," says the tengu, and the two living girls jump back, then quickly jump separate ways to avoid getting their heads smashed in by the falling chandelier.

After the loud crash of metal and glass, the two zombie girls start to moan, and begin their slow rise to their feet.

Yumemi's eyes have been cut by something sharp, and are constantly spewing yellowish black ooze, her skin is grey and dry, her nose has fallen off, her right hand is a long and stiff blade-like, skinless bone, and both her feet have small and sharp claws growing from the tip of each foot-finger.

Chiyuri's eyes have their irises, but they look stiff and lifeless inside those slimy-skinned holes that are her eye sockets.

Her mouth remains open, even after she stops moaning, her teeth are broken and rotten, her gums seems to be pulsating at all times, her skin is orangey-brown and slimy, her bare chest on the left side has wiggling tubes where her breast should be, and from under her pants, longer and slimier tubes grow and spit chunks of some purple slime.

"Satori, are you alright?" asks Aya from the left of the room.

The satori maiden quickly stands up and raises her third eye, then says "I'm fine, I'm fine! Let's just get rid of these things quickly!"

The crow girl gets on her feet, takes her camera out of her pocket, and says "alright! These two are human, so they should be easy to deal with. Just be wary of them. I don't remember exactly what, but I think Reimu told me they have many tricks up their-"

A loud zap and boom cuts the reporter's sentence, and when she looks to her right, she sees her friend getting off the ground again after having dodged a shot from a gun-looking weapon zombie Chiyuri has embedded on her right hand.

"LOOK OUT, AYA-CHAN!" shouts the mind-reader while looking to the left, making the tengu look at zombie Yumemi aim her bladed bone at her after having drawn a blood-red energy line in front of herself in the air.

The black-haired girl jumps away the very second the zombie shoots a cross-shaped energy wave her way, and even after having escaped the attack, she can feel the heat of that energy burning her calves.

"**RARGH! ATTACK!**" furiously commands Aya, taking her fan on hand, springing on her feet, and shooting a flash at the red-dressed monster, and causing her to cover her disgusting face and roar in pain.

The reporter doesn't wait for Zombie Yumemi to recover, swings her fan as strongly as she can, sending a gust that throws the monster several feet backward, then chases after her target.

Satori shoots several homing beams at Zombie Chiyuri, but her left hand seems to absorb those beams so that she takes less damage from them.

The mind-reader clicks her tongue in frustration, shoots a stream of heart bullets the zombie girl shoots at with her gun, and then gets closer to flash her eyes with her third eye.

The attack is a success, and the monster girl screeches and hisses while thrashing her arms and disgusting tubes around, throwing that purple slime all around her.

The purple-haired girl expected this, and started to run from her the second she flashed the zombie, and although she does get hit by her own danmaku, she escapes the purple slime.

Meanwhile, Aya is having it easy against zombie Yumemi, and just jumps away whenever she shoots one of those crosses, and showers her with flashes and beams, weakening her, though doing so slowly.

The tengu glares at her target, jumps away from another cross, and while in mid air, she flashes the living hell out of the zombie and shouts "how many more damned shots do I have to take! Die already, you bitch!"

Yumemi roars and screeches while covering her face, but it doesn't look like she's going to fall any time soon.

Shameimaru loses her patience, jumps as high as she can, then dive-kicks the roaring monster on the hip, breaking her in half, but before either half falls, she swings her fan and sends both pieces flying straight at zombie Chiyuri.

Satori shoots the blonde monster with another flash to prevent her from shooting Zombie Yumemi's pieces away, jumps away to let those two crash, and right after both fall on their backs, she gets closer and shoots five beams on each of their eyes.

The monsters scream loud when their eyes explode, leaving their sockets bare and exposed for a direct hit, and before they have the chance to try and move around, ten beams from Aya enter those very sockets, and the light expands inside the zombies' heads, killing them off after what looked like an agonizing torture.

The girls walk closer and look down on the undead humans, grimace at the sight of the endless slime pouring out of those disgusting tubes on Chiyuri's body, then rush toward the door to the next area without wasting another second, knowing well what time-wasting has done to them before.

"Ugh, that crap stinks," complains the tengu, to which the satori youkai replies "just keep moving. I have a very bad feeling about that smelly stuff!"

Unknown to the girls, whom have just exited the first room, the slime keeps pouring out of that body is if it had an endless supply, and in just two minutes, the entire room is covered by it, and the carpet sizzles as it is consumed by the foul liquid.

* * *

><p>Aya and Satori run fast through the windy path on the castle's large wall.<p>

The wind threatens to knock them out, and sometimes the rusty-colored clouds throw bolts that seem to be sentient to chase after the girls, but those fade after a short while, and the quick tengu is holding her satori friend, so there is no chance of getting hit by those soon.

"THERE IT IS," shouts the reporter over the loudly whooshing wind when getting close to the entrance of the next large dome-like structure.

The mind-reader grunts as she rearranges her arms to hold on to her friend's waist and not get blown off, and after making sure she's safe, she shouts back "GREAT! BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU ENTER! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE!"

The reporter girl nods, speeds up along the wall, ignoring the thunderous noise from the skies, and when she enters the structure she stops right in front of the wooden doors separating them from the next room.

They take some time to breathe, stare at those clouds behind them, and then Aya desperately says "there's something MOVING out there!"

Satori grabs her face and forces the girl to look at her, and calmly says "remember where we are! Aya-chan, we're lucky we haven't been swarmed by monsters yet, so keep in mind there's going to be monsters and traps all over this place!"

The tengu girl grabs the mind-reader's warm hands as she nods, takes quick relaxing breaths of air, and rapidly says "yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I-I'm just a little on edge."

The purple-haired girl slowly releases the warm and soft face of her friend, smiles when they have both calmed down, then looks to the door and softly says "come on. Let's go inside. We may not like what's in there..."

"But staying out here won't help us either," finishes the calm tengu, walking toward the door and placing her hand on it.

She looks at her friend with determination, nods, then says "we move forward," and pushes that door open, getting blinded by the light from within.

The round and vast room has a magically made background that's made to look like it is the Moriya Shrine at the top of the Youkai Mountain, and the ground itself looks like a crude mimic of the front yard of said shrine.

At the very center of the room is Sanae's ruined body, lying lifeless on her back with her head tuned toward the next exit.

Thinking it's a trap form the deranged shrine maiden, the girls quickly raise their flashing items and shoot several beams at the seemingly lifeless body on the ground, and to their surprise, there is no reaction whatsoever from the blasts of light.

They both smile as they gasp with delight after realizing they won't have to fight Zombie Sanae, and then the elder Komeiji says "finally, some luck!"

Shameimaru smiles gleefully for the first time in a long time, and happily says "let's take this blessing without questioning and move forward."

"Wait! Not so fast, girls."

That familiar voice from the right side of the room takes Aya's smile and destroys it in a second, turning it into a disfiguring sad frown as she frightfully asks "is that... Reimu, is that you?"

The zombie shrine maiden stands up at the farthest right edge of the room, which is surprisingly far away, and reveals herself to the girls.

The skeletal, lipless maiden with grey eyes, and now dry, grey hair, bows elegantly, then says "Aya and Satori, the Master is very displeased with you. She never intended for you to reach this place. I guess the Master is a sore loser bitch."

Taking notice of how normally the maiden is speaking, the tengu girl hopefully asks "Reimu? Is that really you Reimu? Th-this isn't a trick, right?"

"It is not," calmly begins the zombie maiden, taking cautious steps forward while saying "sadly, that doesn't mean I'm not dangerous. Just in control for the time being. Now then, first things first. About Sanae..."

She moves her body to the left to reveal Yuka behind her, lying with her back against the holographic wall; her body slumping forward, and her left leg looking purple and rotten.

The girls gasp, but before they can accuse Reimu, the zombie girl says "she took on Sanae on her own to help ease your path, but that girl, insane as she was, proved to be more than a match. I had to come in and give her a boost so that she could finally defeat that bitch."

The zombie girl continues her slow walk toward the girls, and continues "but now, I am here, and I'm in your way. Though I have control of myself, it's only as long as the Master feels I'm doing my job. As such, Aya and Satori, you have to fight me while I still have this control over myself, and defeat me."

"**What?**" softly ask the girls simultaneously, unaware that Reimu is standing three feet in front of them, staring at them with those empty eyeballs, unable to show any emotions to them.

Unable to react in time, the zombie easily stick her hands inside the girls' shirts, grabs those sealing charms, and quickly pulls them off, taking several steps back to avoid frightening the girls too much.

The living girls touch themselves on the chest several times over what's left of their shirts and under them, chortle in spurts, and then Satori manages to say "the charms! They're off!"

Aya looks at her maiden friend with a questioning look, and asks "wait... why? Won't you get punished for this?"

Zombie Reimu throws away the burning seals, curves her fingers to bare her brand new, extremely sharp claws, and thought still herself, she sternly says "now we're even! Aya, Satori, thank you for all you have done! You have no idea how grateful I am to you for coming this far! Keep pushing forward! Beat the living hell out of EVERYTHING in here! Do not stop until that cauldron is spilled!"

The zombie girl seems to convulse a little as she cracks her fingers when moving them, and then furiously says "now come! Defeat me while I'm still me, and earn the right to move forward in this sickening game!"

Both girls gasp and step back after this sudden change in Reimu's attitude, but they knew, deep inside, this was inevitable.

Though they ready their flashing weapons, it is obvious they don't want to fight; this is more noticeable on the tengu's face, so the mind-reader, knowing this was bound to happen, softly says "stay with me. Neither of us can take on Reimu by our lonesome. Work with me."

The winged girl gulps, nods, softly says "I won't abandon you, Satori-chan," and with a strong tone of voice, she loudly says "we won't let you down Reimu, now let's be done with this!"

If the Hakurei Maiden could smile, she would, but she'll have to settle for a soft chuckle as she takes her offensive stance, and prepares herself to fight.

* * *

><p>The girls shoot simultaneous bright flashes at the zombie and make her roar in pain, but instead of backing off Reimu pushes forward and punches both girls on the ribs, sending them flying to the left.<p>

She jumps after them and shouts "too slow! TOO WEAK! If this is all you two got, then we're all as good as **un**dead forever!"

Aya kicks the attacking pouncing zombie on the stomach, pushing her upward and saving herself and her friend from another punch, then flips on her feet and shoots several quick beams at the rolling maiden.

Satori rolls to her stomach, shoots several hearts at the monster girl, forces Zombie Reimu to sway left, then shoots three beams that hit her on the face, blowing her right eye up.

The zombie flies high, roars, and then shouts "so, you made an opening on my face. Fine, I guess I'll have to get serious after all."

The tengu girl flaps her wings hard and kicks off the ground after the maiden, and as she flies up, she shouts "dammit Reimu, you're really pissing me off! Just let us through!"

The Hakurei Maiden grips her head and screams as though in pain, and not buying into that, Aya punches her under the chin, and quickly shoots a flash.

The zombie girl manages to stay in the air after having spun so much, then darkly says "the Master wants me to infect you. You two, **GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR AND KILL ME ALREADY!**"

Satori takes flight, rushes to the right, and loudly declares "Aya-chan, don't let your emotions get in the way! She's helping us right now, so we need to do as she says!"

She shoots ten beams at the shrine maiden, trying to get them into her eye, but the Zombie Hakurei is as nimble as she was when alive, and manages to dance around the homing beams with ease.

Aya regroups with her friend in the air and angrily says "I understand, but she's not making it easy! I mean, look at her! That's Reimu! How are we supposed to beat her?"

The tengu finds herself flying backward to the ground, and can hear Satori's call just before she crashes on the floor with the zombie maiden on top of her.

The Hakurei grips the tengu by the neck raises her clawed left hand, but suddenly stops and begins to shake, as if unable to decide on whether to kill the girl under her knees.

The reporter takes the chance and flashes the maiden straight in the eyes, causing her to yelp and kick herself back to the air, where the mind-reader meets her with a knee to the back of the neck that sends that zombie crashing against Zombie Sanae's body.

Zombie Reimu quickly stands up, roars furiously, yellow substance that mixes with black blood pours from her broken eye, and as she looks up at the girls, she grunts "c-can't... hold on... long! Aya, S-Satori, please, d-don't let me fall into her dark grip again! SAVE ME!"

The tengu's eyes glow bright red as a new kind of determination fills her, and dives after the maiden that's gripping her own head again, struggling with herself for control, kicks the zombie's shoulders and pins her to the ground with her sandals, and shoots repeated flashes on the girl's face, ignoring her cries of pain.

Meanwhile, Satori flies to the highest point at the center of the round room, where her head is just two inches from bumping to the ceiling, and starts gathering energy in front of her third eye.

Though weak, Zombie Reimu manages to push the tengu off herself, swipes a very clumsily claw around herself, as though for defense, then takes flight to the right of the room and says "that's it. Don't hold back. I am a big threat to you, worst than Yukari."

"**SHUT UUUUUP!**" demands the reporter as she flies straight toward her old friend's face with a charged fan and a readied camera.

She tries to trap the zombie maiden inside a tornado, but Reimu quickly moves right to avoid it, yet gets flashed on the face by the surprise flash.

While the monster roars, the mind-reader unleashes eight thick beams, so bright they illuminate the arena enough to show all what it truly is; a round room built with stained brown bricks, stained with some of Yuka's fresh blood on the wall.

The Hakurei Maiden screeches after recovering from Aya's attack, then Satori's beams catch her by surprise, burning her skin on contact, yet still missing that opening in her eye.

Aya takes the opportunity to try and strike the monster girl down to the floor, but the lucky zombie moves slightly back, and the speedy tengu flies past her and almost crashes on the ground herself.

Zombie Reimu prepares tainted charms for her next attack, and while throwing them at the girls, she says "I am eternally grateful for your sacrifice, girls. If I could, I'd be helping you, but I can't. Right now, what little control I have left is fading. Please, kill me off before it's too late. I don't want to hurt you!"

As the maiden speaks, the satori youkai flies as fast as she can all around the room, away from those homing, tainted charms and talismans.

The winged reporter snarls furiously to hide the pain she's currently feeling in her heart, and in her distraction, she gets hit on the foot by one of those charms, and quickly realizes she cannot feel their sting.

She gasps in surprise, stops flying and lets the charms hit her body, proving to herself they aren't meant to cause harm, then that swelling sadness explodes from her very heart, her eyes stop glowing, and screams "I can't! You are the real Reimu, my real friend! Don't ask me to kill you again!"

The tengu girl lets herself drop slowly to the ground, shivering as she holds herself back from crying again, then is surprised when Satori flies between her and the maiden.

The mind-reader looks back with a smile, waves at her friend, then turns her sight back to the maiden, and stares.

Zombie Reimu stares back, slowly raises her left clawed hand, pulls a few talismans from under her sleeves, then, from the ground, Aya furiously shouts "Satori-chan, don't you DARE! NO!"

But it's too late, and the youkai girl engages with the monster maiden.

She shoots several hearts to counter the talismans; skillfully sways right to avoid that claw, and shoots a bright flash as she flies by the red and white.

The monster girl snarls furiously, but instead of covering her face as expected, she grabs Satori by the back of her shirt and pulls her against her rotten body.

The mind-reader struggles to free herself, but now has a set of claws pressed against her underarm, and another pressed against her neck.

In the fraction of a second, Aya calls for her friend right when her eyes glow red once again, kicks off the ground and flies straight at the girls; getting covered in a red aura; grabs Zombie Reimu by the neck, forcing her to release the purple-haired girl, then places the flash bulb of her camera directly on the monster's broken eyeball, and shoots the killing flash.

As her rotten body falls next to Yuka's, Reimu manages to say "thank you. I owe you one," and crashes lifelessly on her back, next to the flower youkai's body, without disturbing it.

The tengu stares at the results of her desperate burst, turns around and flies toward Satori, and the moment she lands, her dear friend coos her name.

She looks into those purple eyes as her own start getting bloodshot, and tears start to flow, and with a cracking voice, she manages to say "that's the second time I killed that girl..."

* * *

><p>A sob escapes Shameimaru as she lets herself drop on her knees; her eyes stop glowing once again, then cries "she held back after all. She could have turned us any time she wanted, but she didn't. Satori. What have I done? She... she could have helped us."<p>

Komeiji remains standing as she embraces that hurt girl and presses her head against her own stomach, and after some sobs escape the reporter, she says "Aya, listen to me. I'm sorry, but Reimu and I staged that last exchange."

When the black-haired girl looks up at her friend, she continues "she kept telling she had to distract her master in order for one of us to get close enough to her, but she didn't want you to know, or you would give up. My dear Aya, I know this sounds cold, but we have done her a kind favor."

A loud sob escapes the reporter, then cries "I-I know. I'm a tengu, I shouldn't even be crying! I sh-should be proud! Bu-but I can't! I don't want to feel pride anymore!"

The satori maiden coos and shushes the girl in an attempt to comfort her, then the room starts getting darker and darker by a moment, and by the time the girls take notice, it looks as dark as a moonless night.

The crow girl sniffles, manages to find the strength to stand, raises her camera, and angrily cries "what now?"

"Aya-chan, it's her," says Satori, looking toward the exit of the room.

There hovers the giant translucent image of Shikieiki Yamaxanadu, and although her body looks normal, her eyes seem to be growing bits of purple rocks around them, and her eyeballs are turning bright red.

She moans as she looks at the girls, raises her Rod of Remorse to cover her mouth, then says "so I am finally able to contact you. Girls, my apologies; I know I haven't done anything to help you, but please, I beg of you, you have to hurry."

Even with the sudden rage swelling in her, the tengu knows she can't shout at the Yama, so she just remains silent along her friend, allowing Eiki to continue.

"It has been a warzone here, ever since that celestial decided she wanted to invade the Earth, and thanks to that, and her army of tainted angels, many of our own have been infected with that virus, and have spread it to hell. Miss Shameimaru, Miss Komeiji, I am asking far more than I should ever ask, but please, hurry and stop this, before we have an actual Armageddon on our hands."

"With all due respect," begins the tired satori "We are going as fast as we can, but it's been hell for us as well. We are still alive by a miracle! We are exhausted, hurt... I honestly do not know if we can do this!"

"That's right," grunts the angry tengu. "Right now, I just happen to have killed Reimu **for a second time!** I am hurt, and I want to grab this master's neck, wring it dry of all its blood, and spill that cauldron by bashing it with her own head even more! But I don't know how far we can really go. Everything is uncertain!"

Shikieiki sighs, shakes her head, then says "if you fail, there is a great risk of these clouds and this virus breaking through the barrier and destroying the world outside Gensokyo as well. And I don't mean just the in the present, but the past, and the future as well, for the barrier is timeless, and exists outside third density timelines."

She teaks a quick breath, and continues "that girl, who thinks has lived long enough in hell to be able to control it, is thinking of expanding her influence as far as she can, and I will tell you, her reach would become endless if this continues."

She notices the frightful look on the girl's faces, thinks of stopping, but still continues "when Heaven and Hell break into Gensokyo, it will all be over. The Master will have won, and all your efforts up until now will be for naught."

Aya narrows her eyes as she raises an eyebrow, and asks "did you just say... The Master? As in..."

The Yama nods and says "that's right. I'm starting to lose control. Though I can hold on for a little longer, I too will soon be one of her many minions. I wouldn't have come here to ask you of such selfish request, but it has come to this. That magical virus has spread too far already, and that girl does not appear like she will stop, ever."

A terrible fear wakes inside Satori's heart, and with a hesitant and frightful tone, she asks "um, M-Miss Yama... you wouldn't we talking about Orin, w-would you?"

Shikieiki smiles sweetly and stares, and slowly, that sweet smile becomes more and more sinister, and after a soft hiss, she says "you are going to have to find out for yourself."

The Yama begins to cackle, sending the worst chills they have felt so far down the girls' spines.

A cold surge of energy emanates from the translucent figure as her lips seem to break on the sides to stretch that sinister smile, and her skin seems to become paler and paler, until it starts taking a light shade of purple.

As small jagged teeth start growing under those purple lips, Eiki manages to strike herself on the head so hard with her Rod of Remorse, her skull can be heard cracking, and her own blood stains her Rod, but as soon as she does that, that cold and ominous feeling, and that terrible energy, both disappear instantly.

She breathes hard thought her mouth, slowly turns to face the exit, then says "time... is running short, and that cauldron, it's growing stronger under The Master's influence! Your time may be less than even I had anticipated. You have to move faster!"

Aya sighs loudly enough to get Eiki's attention, and irritably says "FINE, WE'LL GO; WE UNDERSTAND! JEEZ!"

Satori nods to the Yama, and softly says "we'll do what we can, but if things are as bad as you say they are, then-"

"You will succeed, as long as your wills are stronger, you will succeed," insists Shikieiki.

The girls stare at the translucent girl before them, bow once, and then start their walk toward the room's exit.

Just before they disappear under the doorway, Eiki lets her worry tear roll out of her left eye and down her cheek, and loudly says "may the true gods and spirits of the universe guide and watch over you brave souls."

The tengu nonchalantly waves her hand at the green-haired girl without turning around, and she and her mind-reading friend seem to disappear under the darkness of that doorway.

Outside the arena, the girls now flash flying creatures that have the heads of bats, rotten bodies of rats, and the limbs and wings of what once were fairies, as they run through the dangerously windy path to the next arena.

After flashing another group of five of those monsters, Satori shouts loudly over the sound of whooshing winds "AYA-CHAN! MAYBE WE SHOULD FLY!"

The tengu nods, kicks off the ground, then the mind-reader herself grabs her by a leg and pulls her down, saving her from getting struck on the head by one of those green bolts.

Aya is shaking from the fright, but recovers after an apology kiss on the forehead from Satori, and realizing the dangers of flying, the girls decide it is best to continue walking, even if it means having to fight more of those flying mutants.

* * *

><p>The girls burst through the door of the next arena-like dome, and quickly find themselves kicking the door close again to save themselves from the legion of flying monsters behind them.<p>

They twitch at the sound of the countless thumps and sploshes on the door as the creatures smash and burst their heads on the thick doors, and soon after, watch as their blood seeps beneath that gate, and decide to simply move on.

Their 'moving on' is very short, for as soon as they turn around, they stop on their tracks and gaze awestruck at the wide arena in front of them.

The walls, ceiling and floor are made to look like the Tengu Village, and the reporter can even see her house slightly hidden behind the mountain walls.

"Does it give you a sense of nostalgia, or perhaps you are disgusted at this sight, Aya Shameimaru?"

The two shocked girls turn their widely opened eyes toward the center of the room, where Hatate stands ready, glaring furiously at the one that killed her and let those monsters eat her.

The zombie's eyes have been restored so that they have a pair of empty brown irises, but aside from that, she's still missing the left side of her hair, her right eye still dangles next to her mouth, the eye sockets are still glowing red, and her wings are now exposed, though instead of bird wings, hers looks like bat wings with a few black feathers clinging on the edges.

She smiles at the girls, causing her lips to crack as they stretch, and says "surprised? Master has allowed me to be restored, so that I may have my revenge on you, you fucking bitch!"

"Why can't you stay **DEAD?**" screams the black-haired tengu.

"**WHY DID YOU KILL ME IN THE FIRST PLACE?**" loudly screams the zombie girl as a reply.

Aya hops back, almost swallowing her tongue whole, but quickly composes herself and replies "no, Hatate, that was an accident! I swear, I didn't know that would-"

"You could have tried to save me, Shameimaru, you BITCH," angrily spits the zombie, spilling some black ooze from her mouth in the process.

Satori quickly stands on her friend's side, looks bravely at the monster girl, and says "I don't care if you are in control of yourself right now! I'll be damned before I let you touch Aya-chan!"

A vile grin from Zombie Hatate reveals her rotting violet gums and black jagged teeth as she says "on control? Oh no, I can only speak and think on my own, but my body belongs to Master. It is what I asked of her."

Shameimaru's eyes begin to glow again, getting a surprised gasp and shocked stare from Zombie Hatate, and asks "why, Hatate? Why this? What do you want to prove?"

The monster girl smiles wider, lifts her hands to chest height, six tentacles burst out of her back, tearing what's left of her shirt apart, her left demonic wing grows three times its size, the muscles on her limbs expand, and in a monstrous, warped tone of voice, she says "to prove that I am better than you, you bitch! To show your arrogant face who is the best between us! Fight me, Shameimaru! FIGHT ME ONE-ON-ONE! NO TRICKS, NO GIMMICKS! LET'S MAKE IT A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED BRAWL!"

The black-haired reporter stands firm, with glowing, determined eyes aimed at the monstrous tengu in front of her, and just before the mind-reader makes the first move, she blocks her friend's advance, and whispers "no, this is tengu business. You stay back."

Satori is going to complain, but Aya turns a smile to her and says "she said no tricks or gimmicks, and yet she's already broken that rule, so that means anything goes. So, when I give you the signal, you come in. Just please, let me have this one."

The satori girl can see how important this is for her friend, but she fails to understand why she must risk herself out of pride, and yet finds herself unable to find a way to debate, so she just nods, and softly says "if I see you're in danger, I'm going to save you."

Shameimaru turns to face her rival, stretches her wings as she sighs, then says "thank you. I'll be counting on you."

She walks closer to the large monster in the center of the room; her determined eyes still glowing brightly; stops when she's ten feet away, then the two tengu girls stare at each other with disgust.

* * *

><p>Aya kicks off the ground and avoids one of Hatate's tentacles, shoots several beams from her camera, and though five of them miss, the last two hit and cut that very tentacle off the monster's very back.<p>

The monstrous zombie roars and shouts "no FAIR! You're not supposed to do that," then snarls and jumps after the living tengu, swinging her remaining tentacles around, while trying to land a claw on her opponent's calf.

Shameimaru spins like a ball in the air to avoid that claw, dives and veers right to make a very sharp turn, flies upward, and just as the monster girl starts to fall, she dives after her, swings her fan to trap her in a tornado, then declares "Illusionary Dominance!"

A red beam envelops her body and she flies faster than the speed of sound around Zombie Hatate, kicking her hard with every passing, and flashing her eyes whenever she gets a chance.

The monster crashes on her face on the ground after a kick on the back of her neck, but pushes herself back up and roars "YOUUU **BIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!**"

Without even looking, she manages to wrap a tentacle around Aya's waist, then smashes her to the ground with all her might, causing the girl to cough out blood, then threatens to split her in half by tightening her grip.

The living tengu takes the fan on her hand, swings is three times, and cuts herself free, leaving that long tendril dangling by a mere piece of skin she couldn't cut off.

Immediately after she's free, she takes flight and then dives again, straight at Zombie Hatate's face, then sinks the platform of her left sandal right between those lifeless eyes.

The bulky monster falls on her back, helpless as the black-haired girl flashes her face repeatedly, and then cries out loud "**YOU CANNOT WIIIIN! NOT THIS TIME! NOT AFTER ALL OF THIS!**"

That monstrous girl manages to move that buffed right arm fast enough to grab Aya by surprise, sinks her claws on the live tengu's ribs and hips, and before the girl can yelp, she's being struck repeatedly against the ground.

Hatate stands up with a vicious victory smile aimed at the limp girl still recovering on her monstrous hand, walks closer to the wall on the right, then smashes her hated rival against it, and sweeps her all over it, trying to tear the flesh off her face.

Satori wants to jump in and save her, but the reporter quickly thinks "_DON'T! NOT YET_," and she stops her advance yet again, though does so reluctantly.

Meanwhile, Aya's face starts bleeding when something sharp cuts her left cheek, yet she ignores it and manages to kick off the wall hard enough to force Zombie Hatate to stumble backward, yet fails to knock her down.

Angry, the monster grips the tengu tighter, and furiously says "you think you stand a chance? Let's see how well you do without these!"

The dazed crow girl can't even put up a fight as the monstrous tengu flips her around, grabs both legs, and promptly stretches them until they crack.

The girl's bloody scream forces Satori to break her calm stand, quickly take flight toward the monster, and furiously declare "MEMORY SIGN, BRAIN FINGERPRINT! SUFFER, YOU BITCH!"

The green orbs leave the mind-reader's body and settle right inside Zombie Hatate's body, but before the spell finishes, the monster grabs Aya by her broken legs and swings her like a bat, smashing her head against Satori's, and sending said youkai flying to the other side of the arena.

Even with that pain coursing through her body, the sound of the purple-haired girl's grunt ignites the tengu's fighting spirit, and she grips that monster's oversized fingers and easily breaks them off, though the monster doesn't seem to feel it.

She is free from that girl's grasp, but she's furious, evident in her intensely glowing red eyes and the foam forming on her mouth as she snarls and growls.

Without thinking much, the living girl stretches her wings and swoops near to the ground, where her swollen purple legs keep scraping the floor, then roars "**GLOWING TORNADO OF THE WIND GOD!**"

She swings her fan so hard, she pushes herself back until she smashes her back against the wall; but she doesn't care about that; and quickly takes flight again as she aims her camera at the large tornado that has Zombie Hatate trapped within.

She shoots one beam after another, and another, and another, until fifteen beams have been absorbed into the massive tornado, then stops abruptly in mid-air, making herself grimace in pain when her legs dangle underneath herself, then aims her fan at the tornado, and starts twisting it around the air.

Before the tornado begins to dice Hatate, ten more beams fly from behind the live tengu, who looks back at the ground and happily exclaims "Satori-chan, you're alright!"

The mind-reader furiously demands "FOCUS!" and the reporter grins as she turns her sights back to the exceedingly bright tornado, and twists her fan as erratically as she can.

Zombie Hatate's bloody scream surpasses Aya's own as the light mixes with the blades of wind of the tornado, and the mind-reader's spell card activates inside her guts at the same time, and that monstrous body is burned and diced in several spots at once, then screams "**Shameimaru you goddamned biiiiiiiiitch! AAAAARRRRRRGH!**"

Finally, after several seconds of torturing the monster, the black-haired reporter expels her held breath, continues her sigh as she lets herself relax, but that's when the throbbing, maddening pain of her legs reaches her brain, and she falls.

She crashes on her back, right next to Hatate's severed, smiling head, and looks at it while wincing and whimpering.

The head moves her lips, forming erratic, soundless words, then finally says "g-hood job... Shameimaru. You re-heally are the best. Be careful though. The M..Master... is... strong...er," and then expires with an undeserving smile on her face.

Aya turns her head back to the ceiling as the mind-breaking pain from her legs claims her whole, and all she can do is breathe hard and fast through her mouth while she waits for the pain to begin subsiding.

Satori rushes over to her friend with one of the water bottles on hand and uncapped, then says "hold on! I got you," and lifts the girl's skirt.

She quickly pours the water where the thighs join the torso, and immediately, the swelling goes down, the legs return to their natural pale color, and after she is sure those bones are back in their place, she rushes the water over to the tengu's mouth and forces her to drink the little bit left.

After drinking the water, the reporter breathes through her mouth as her body and heart settle down, relief takes and soothes her, and after a few, more relaxed breaths, she lifts her right hand to touch the mind-reader's face, smiles, and through soft breaths says "that hurt... like a bitch!"

The purple-haired girl can't help but smile as a relief chuckle escapes her, presses her friend's hand against her right cheek, and while holding her hand like that, she sighs and says "that was some signal. Sorry I got in the way, but-"

Shameimaru suddenly sits up and wraps her arms around her friend, repeatedly kisses her cheeks, and her lips too; whenever she gets the chance; and after stopping and just holding her tight, she sighs "thank you! Oh gods, that was scary! Thank you for saving me, Satori-chan!"

The mind-reader is more than delighted to return the embrace, and secretly blushes as she squeezes the bird girl's body against her own, and disguises her gleeful voice by calmly saying "you're welcome, my Aya-chan. I'll save you a hundred more times if I have to."

And so, after getting on their feet, the girls make their way toward the exit of the arena-like room which, coincidentally, is to the right of the image of Aya's house.

* * *

><p>The next segment of the castle lies before them, but their advance is halted the moment they exit the arena by a bolt that crashes on the long path right in front of them, breaking a massive hole on the castle's wall, and halting their progress.<p>

The winds are stronger than before, those clouds seem to be more aggressive, flying would be suicidal, but the girls look at each other with fright, knowing it's the only way.

Aya grabs the mind-reader by the waist with one arm, lifts a spell card with another, and loudly says "cover your face! If you start feeling pressure anywhere, you tell me immediately, you understand?"

Satori quickly buries her face on the tengu's ample chest, for both delight and protection, then nods and says a muffled "got it! I'm ready when you are!"

Aya raises her spell card, loudly declares "Illusionary Dominance!" and as soon as she and her friend are surrounded by that red aura, she takes off flying to the next segment of the castle, leaving behind that gaping hole.

The green bolts miss the girls' feet by mere inches as the tengu girl rushes forth without stopping, and just like that, the bolts all stop.

Before the girl relaxes and cancels her spell, thinking it's safe, she looks back and screams with fright when laying eyes on a new enemy.

A giant zombie dragon with lime-green scales, the left side of its face rotten to the poisonous bones, four large horns growing from its cheeks, a red right eye, and a body the size of the dome-like arenas themselves, flaps its ruined grey wings as it chases after the girls.

Behind it, three more giant zombie dragons, one Chinese in appearance, roar after picking up the living girls' scent, and Aya doubles her speed, placing her hand on Satori's head and screaming "hang on! Satori-chan, hang on! This is going to get rough!"

The mind-reader knows what her friend has seen, but in order to keep herself safe from the wind's pressure around the reporter, she has to focus on holding on tight, and protecting herself with her own energy, thus rendering herself unable to help.

The first dragon breathes a dark purple fireball the reporter manages to dodge by a mere inch, then has to quickly sway right to avoid a green fireball.

The dragons roar frightfully loud when they double their efforts to catch up to the girls, flapping their wings harder than before; for the snake dragon, slithering harder and faster; to get their small, but delectable treat.

Shameimaru is not about to let herself or Satori become food for undead mythical creatures, so she too doubles her efforts, causing her friend to whimper as the air pressure batters her, and that's when she notices none of them, herself or the dragons, have been moving any closer to the tower-like section.

"Oh shit," whispers Aya, dodges another purple fireball, cancels her spell card, lands on the castle's wall, holds the mind-reader princess style, then starts running toward the tower as she shouts "godsdamned castle has an anti-flight charm! We can only reach each destination on foot!"

The purple-haired girl pulls her third eye over her head, shoots a flash behind the winged girl, the first dragon screeches after getting flashed, then she says "just run! I'll shoot!"

Before the satori's sentence ends, the tengu is already running faster toward the door to their next destination, and as she gets closer to it she can see how the towering structure disappears over the clouds.

She stops caring about that fact when another flash is shot, and is followed by a very close roar from another dragon, and in a desperate sprint, the tengu girl slides toward the door and tackles it open.

The dragons all roar with frustration after their treat escapes them, but fly away just before touching the tower's wall, though remain flying around it, as if hoping to somehow get their treats without having to break through the walls.

The girls remain on their knees on the floor as they look around, scared that those giant dragons might try to break through, but slowly calm down when they realize said dragons won't dare lay a wing on the structure's walls.

As they look around and settle down, they slowly realize the large arena they are in now has the magical background of the Myouren Temple's grounds, and as they look around the lower walls of that round structure, they fail to find the next door.

Instead, the room goes up into the darkness, where their youkai sights fail to see further than a mere twenty feet up.

They both stand up, and after looking around the room for a long while the tengu girl asks "so... do we go up now, or do you think it's just a trap, Satori-chan?

The purple-haired girl sighs, then says "that's irrelevant, Aya-chan. Whether we do, or do not fly up there, something's going to come for us, so I suggest we mo-"

***BOOM***

***SLASH***

Aya has grabbed Satori, and has dashed off to the right, avoiding a very vicious claw from a husky, greyish, undead tanuki, and after she lands, she angrily exclaims "for once, I'd like it if there were no fucking traps or hidden monsters!"

The mind-reader gulps after being placed back on the ground, and shakingly says "th-thanks. I didn't even feel her coming."

The zombie tanuki seems to have a pair of glasses pushed inside her right eyeball, her left iris-free eye is blackish-grey, the hair on her head slithers around her cranium as though having a life of its own, her torso is completely exposed, and though she still has her breasts, they are covered by a rocky-like skin that covers her all the way to her hands, she wears a skirt made with the severed heads of zombie fairies, and ties them together with their own tiny, slimy guts, her clawed feet, though having the flesh so rotten it clings to the bones, sport a set of fat wriggling worms that screech as they reach around with their bodies, and her ringed, bushy tail is stained with both poison and blood.

The monster brandishes her claws, making them longer, and releasing poison from them with every swing, roars and reveals her mouth has a thick, swollen purple tongue cut in several spots and held back by jagged orange teeth, and when she looks at the girls, she snarls and ducks on the ground as she moves slowly sideways, like a feral beast on four legs, and unleashes five retractable purple thorns from that thick tail's tip.

Aya steps in front of Satori as she glares at the monster tanuki, and in a dangerously low tone, she says "careful Satori-chan. This one looks as vicious at that bitch at the Mausoleum."

The mind-reader notices how that monster seems to be looking straight at her, and frightfully says "A-Aya-chan! Kill her fast!"

"Don't rush," seemingly calmly replies the crow girl as she slowly takes her fan and camera on hand, then continues "this is Mamizou Futatsuiwa, a dangerous and powerful tanuki from the outside world. We can't rush her without knowing how strong she really is."

Obviously understanding the girls, the zombie forces her claws into the ground, easily breaks the illusion of the soil on that spot, and shows the girls how easily she breaks those bricks lose with her bare hands, pulls said brick to crush it with the magic she pours on her fingers, then snarls again.

The girls gulp, and the satori youkai, still feeling she's being targeted, softly says "oh yeah... She's plenty strong."

* * *

><p>Aya kicks her friend to the left as she jumps right to let zombie Mamizou pounce right between them, saving herself and the mind-reader from the vicious poisonous claws.<p>

Satori gulps when that monster quickly turns her full attention to her, shoots a flash as she gets up, then takes flight as fast as she can, hoping to avoid the obvious pounce headed her way.

The tengu kicks the monster girl on the head the very second she tries the pounce, shoots a locked-on beam on the eyeball with glasses, then jumps back when Mamizou starts to snarl and swing her claws wildly.

In an instant, the monster girl does a very sudden charge at the fleeing crow girl, tackles her hard enough to knock her breath out of her body and send her flying all the way to the other side of the arena; about thirty feet away, then runs on all fours after the satori youkai.

She sinks her claws on the bricks as the runs up those walls after the fleeing flying girl, ignoring the flashes and beams striking her body, and just as she's about fifteen feet above the satori, she throws herself at the living girl.

Satori readies herself for a claw attack, and just as Zombie Mamizou reaches her, the girl moves left, then the zombie twists her body and strikes the girl on the face with that surprisingly hard tail.

The moment that purple-haired girl is flying backward against her will, the monster stops her fall and flies straight at her prey, then extends her claws to ready and capture the delectable girl with them.

Aya rushes from the right, kicks the monster girl on the chin, making her spin in mid air, swings her fan to trap that monster in her spinning stance, then shoots several flashes that are promptly accompanied by the mind-reader's beams.

The frightened satori youkai can't shake the bad feeling in her heart, and so quadruples her efforts to try and kill Mamizou as quickly as possible, earning a scolding from the tengu.

"Stop overexerting yourself, you idiot! You're going to kill yourself like that!"

"**Kill her Aya-chan! Kill her now!**"

Satori's desperate screaming worries the tengu, yet thinks her friend is overreacting.

Either way, she decides to lock some beams on the spinning monster before her, but quickly discovers Zombie Mamizou is not there, and now finds herself surrounded by a legion odd-looking lime-green beasts and red falcons that rush to her.

Aya shoots herself upward to avoid the incoming tackle, only to find herself faced by stationary blue frogs that explode as soon as she gets close, and shoot tainted talismans at her.

The girl flashes the bullets and discovers how easily those very bullets turn to nothing with her flash, but as quickly as they disappear, they are replaced by creepy little blue and red faceless people that move straight toward her.

While the tengu deals with the many oddities trying to kill her, Satori finds herself flying away from Zombie Mamizou, who has flattened her tongue to allow her mouth to open wider as she rushes over to the live prey.

The purple-haired girl whimpers as she tries to fly away, and shoots flashes to keep the monster tanuki away, but it's not working, and she's just about to take a bite of the girl's calf.

The satori girl yelps and curls up quickly after feeling that rotten chin on her talon, saving herself from a vicious chomp, flashes the monster in the eyes and causes her to flinch, then kicks her pursuer as hard as she can.

"Dammit," curses Aya from above before shooting another flash and killing five pursuing beasts, and after taking off flying away again, she shouts "what is it with these damned things!?"

Satori focuses her attention on her friend after seeing her surrounded by those odd creatures, shoots ten beams after some of the stragglers, and shouts "don't let them touch you, Aya-chan! They look dangerous!"

She gasps when the feels something sinking itself inside the skin between her neck and left shoulder, and before she even realizes what happened, Zombie Mamizou takes a vicious bite of that left shoulder, and yanks her arm right off along with the whole sleeve.

She hasn't felt the pain of a severed limb for years, ever since her last serious fight with her sister Koishi, and thus, had forgotten how terrible it feels.

The mind-reader's scream makes the very air tremble strongly, getting the reporter's full attention, then the youkai girl throws herself to the ground in an instinctive attempt of getting away from the source of her pain, but all she does is fall right on top of that bleeding hole on her torso, making the pain worsen, and blanks out on the ground.

Aya's eyes appear to glow red with rage, not really matching the terrified look on her face as she looks down to the ground and whispers "no. Oh-no!"

The odd creatures stop their advance on the tengu, who quickly takes notice, her face takes a frightening feral look as she looks at the odd creatures, and then she furiously commands "**get that goddamned bitch away from MY SATORI!**"

Mamizou's own creatures turn on her, and quickly dive in to attack her, while Shameimaru dives for Satori, whom is twitching violently on the ground.

The zombie girl roars as her creations smash onto her body and destroy that makeshift skirt, but the crow tengu doesn't give a shit as she places her full attention on the bleeding girl on the ground.

She wants to move Satori away from that pool of blood forming underneath her body, but fears she might hurt her friend further if she moves her like that, and looks around for the missing arm.

She fails to find it, and knows who has it, and in a dark undertone, she furiously says "give me her arm back, you goddamned mistake of nature!"

When she turns around, she stares at the disgusting monster before her with hatred.

Zombie Mamizou has merged with all her creatures, and now her body looks like it's full of fleshy boils that have grown on other boils, her tail has extended almost fifteen feet, her arms and claws have become giant neon bars with huge holes between them; though still looking dangerous; and when she roars, she sounds just like one of those dragons outside, her voice augmented by the blue neon beams making she shape of her head.

Aya stares completely unfazed and unamused at this new transformation, her eyes glow brighter when she sees Satori's arm dangling from what used to be the monster's right claw, and with that dark look on her face, she rushes forward.

The monster tries to smash her on the ground with that giant fist, but the skillful flyer dances between the beams, and although they do cut cleanly through the floor, breaking another bit of the illusion, they fail to come close to the crow girl.

Zombie Mamizou swings her tail, hoping to distract the black-haired girl and catch her off guard, but said girl just dives and loops around that thorned tail, avoids a surprise swing by the monster's new left arm, and watches without care as the monstrous creatures cuts her own tail cleanly off with that beam-like hand.

She reaches Satori's sleeved arm, yanks it right out of the monster's grip, then flies to her face, dancing around those blue beams protecting it, enters the massive safe zone inside said beams, then flashes and kicks Mamizou on the face, breaking a hole on the face and shooting beams and flashes inside, ignoring the dirty blood and poison sticking on her legs and sandals.

While the zombie gurgles, unable to roar or screech due to her lack of face, the beam-like extension roars loudly enough to rattle the entire tower all the way to its top hidden in darkness.

The beams fade as the monster falls, and Aya makes her way to Satori, not caring for the creature behind her, and as she gets closer, she takes her storage cube out of her pocket, and pulls two bottles of divine water from inside.

Silence claims the tower's base after Zombie Mamizou falls, and the tengu can hear when she herself lands on the ground and uncorks the first bottle.

She quickly places the mind-reader's arm where it belongs, pulls the sleeve off so it doesn't get in the wound, and immediately pours the water on that wound.

She smiles when she sees that arm healing as fast as she pours the water on it, and when she hears the bones clack in place, she promptly picks the girl like a princess and flies her away from the blood, then continues pouring water on her neck, desperately whispering "she's not turning! Dammit all Satori-chan, you are not turning into one of them!"

She sighs with great relief when the wound on the side of her friend's neck cleans itself off, watches as the poisoned blood jets out before the wound seals up, then pours the rest of that first bottle on the back of her friend's head to clean the blood off her hair.

Shortly after, she places the girl on the ground, winces when the poison starts eating through the skin on her own leg, then unscrews the second water bottle, pours half of it on her legs, cleaning them and her sandals of the poison and tainted blood immediately, then lifts Satori again, and helps her drink the rest of the water.

She holds the mind-reader for four minutes, waiting for her to wake up, and smiles when that girl starts moaning as she wakes up.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Satori-chan," softly whispers the tengu girl as she tightens her hold on the girl, but this frightens the mind-reader, who seems to think she's still being held by Zombie Mamizou, so Aya lets her go, and watches her drop on her back with a frightful stare.

The winged girl gulps, smiles to hide the pain in her heart, feeling the doubt coming from her friend, and softly says "Satori-chan. It's me; Aya-chan. Mamizou is dead. I got your arm back too. Y-you're alright. You're not one of them."

It takes a while for Satori to calm herself and soften her breathing, slowly manages to get herself in a sitting position, raises her knees and hugs herself, and softly says "th-thank you... Aya-chan. Forgive my behavior. It's just, that hurt so much, and made me think of Koishi, and... Everything felt so cold. I thought I was truly dead."

She turns her head to smile, though with some fright, at her reporter friend, and says "thank you so much, Aya-chan. You saved me again."

She uncurls so suddenly, Shameimaru only has a second to open her arms and grab the overexcited mind-reader in a well-earned embrace, where neither girl says or thinks anything, and just rest while holding each other tight.

* * *

><p>The girls now fly up to the darkness, holding those black flashlights that have served them well all this time on hand.<p>

It is so dark the flashlights illuminate their ascent well, and they can see at least ten feet away, so sneak attacks can be avoided.

As they reach what they hope is halfway up the tower, Satori hesitantly says "Aya-chan, I feel strange. The further we go, the stronger this odd feeling gets."

There's no reply, so the mind-reader continues "what if I am transforming? Aya-chan, you have to-"

"NO! I have to do nothing," angrily spits the tengu, and more seemingly calm, she continues "you are not turning, it's the cauldron. I can't explain it, but I feel as though it's trying to scare us. You heard what Marisa said. That thing is sentient, so maybe it's scared of us and wants to push us away."

"But Aya-chan," tries to complain the satori, but the reporter furiously says "you! are not! TURNING! I know, I checked your wounds! They are clean!"

The purple-haired girl speeds over to her friend's side, grips her by the collar of her shirt, pulls her to make eye contact, and says "Aya-chan, if for any reason I get cut again, and DO begin to turn, you will do what you have to do, and move on. That is my request to you, and I beg of you..."

She softens her hold as she passes her hand on the girl's shirt, and says "kill me if you must, and move on. It will only be a temporary death anyway. You'll spill that cauldron, and I'll be ok."

They smile at each other, though Aya feels pained as she does, but before either can comment further, they aim their flashlights up, frown, and then ready their flashing weapons.

Ten fairies are waiting to meet the girls, and these look like normal fairies; no mutation, not smells, no decaying skin.

Instead, these fairies look like the same, annoying little creatures that love to get in the way of travelers around Gensokyo, and so, they hesitate to shoot.

The little girls wear cute pink, yellow, or green dresses, all have varied hairstyles and colors, but oddly enough, all seem to have the very same face.

Taking notice of this, Aya raises her camera and calls her friend in a stern tone so that she raises her defenses as well, and at that very moment, the fairies grin, and those grins quickly stretch unnaturally.

Their faces split in four parts, revealing a very creepy smiling face underneath that fair skin, with red eyes twice the size of the fairies' normal ones, long, pointy fangs, slithering red or black tongues, and the skin on those new faces it light grey, though some are purple.

The little mutants rush toward the girls, but get a flash on the eyes and fall fast to the bright lights, and in just a matter of seconds, all the monster fairies are dead."

"That was too easy," softly comments Satori as she aims her flashlight below, then moves it all around to make sure there's nothing else, and adds "were they just there to scare us, or something?"

"I don't know," begins the annoyed tengu in a dangerously annoyed tone, then looks to the sides and adds "they were pretty annoying, so ma-"

Her sentence is cut short when the mind-reader calls her name and pushes her along to the left, saving her from an unseen blur.

Aya blinks as the realization hits her, places a gentle hand on Satori's head as thanks, and still looking sore and confused, she asks "what the heck was that?"

The girls aim their flashlights down when they hear something flapping nearby, and watch as a decaying bird youkai slowly rises to meet them with great effort.

Tokiko, the nameless reading bird youkai, has lost her red crest feathers, and instead has a small fountain of blood pouring out of the crown of her head, staining her white hair red, and making those blue patches look purple.

Her face has dried brown skin, her lips have been replaced by a long beak with a sharp tip after it curves, she wears a long, bloodstained white sleeveless dress with holes on the back for her rotting wings, and though her hands look harmless, her feet have one massive black claw on each talon, which she's currently lifting and aiming at the girls, and the horns on her head have grown only twice their size, but obviously have a nasty concentration of the virus on them, evident by how the tips look brownish, and keep pouring rust-colored steam with green bolts on them.

The girls quickly shoot a flash in her eyes, causing her to drop and screech like a bird with two voices, then aim their lights down and move away just in time to avoid getting hit by those dangerous horns.

No words need to be shared to know being hit by those will mean the end, so the girls focus greatly on the zombie bird, whom surprises them again when she starts to fly around with ease.

The zombie bird lifts her talons again as she dives straight at Aya, and the tengu easily catches her by the ankle and throws her away toward the wall, where the monster crashes on her back, and her entire body cracks as blood splashes all over the wall.

Before she starts falling, Aya and Satori shower her with flashes until she stops twitching, and watch as she falls to the room below.

The mind-reader sighs, and comments "if they were all this easy."

The tengu sighs hard and slumps, then sadly says "but they aren't," composes herself, then points the flashlight up, and commands "come on, I feel a shift in the air. I think we're close to the end."

And so, the girls resume their flight up the dark tower, undisturbed by monsters, but bothered by how the sound of the wind outside gets stronger, and now, they can even hear constant rumbling from those clouds.

The reporter girl stops her ascent, stares at her friend with those glowing eyes, frightening her and making her ask "wh-what? I-is everything alright?"

Satori yelps with fright when Aya suddenly rushes to her and grabs her without saying a word, then hears a thunderous noise underneath them.

As they begin to descend, the frightened girl stares at the reporter and demands "please, give me a little warning next time! I'm too upset to read minds as easily."

The reporter wants to chuckle, but instead glares toward a particular spot, whispers "I'm sorry," then places the girl on solid ground, where a huge hole should be, and thinks "_we're here. Satori-chan, we reached the place where that cauldron is... I can feel it._"

The room is so dark, the satori youkai isn't sure if her friend is being paranoid, or if there really is something special about the place they are on, and then, the lights suddenly turn on as the ceiling above them splits into eight sharp pieces that bend back, allowing the howling cold winds to enter the room they are in.

The room they are in, unlike all the others, is a physical replica of the nuclear reactor built in old hell under Chireiden, with its coolers, control panels, and the reactor's core, all like the purple-haired girl remembers them back at home.

Looking at this scenery surrounding her, the satori maiden's will drops to nothing along with her knees to the ground, then she lets herself drop on her hands, and sobs away while softly whimpering "no, no, no. it can't be."

Aya knows what's wrong with her Satori, but all she can do is kneel beside her and sympathetically rub her back, while cooing "it's alright, it's ok. We can do this. We can do this."

As expected, Utsuho Reiuji, or Okuu, as she is called by her loved ones, stands up from a white chair in the center of the room, from where she seems to control the power of said room.

Most of her hair has fallen off, leaving two patches of it, grey and dry, on the left and back of her head, her wings have no feathers left, and what's left of her shirt and skirt are covered in so much blood, fresh and old, their original color is unrecognizable.

Her skin is brown and slimy, and patches of it seem to be falling off, emanating a strong scent of decay from them, her left eye looks like a glass white ball, her right eye glows green with radiation, her left arm has lost all its skin, her right arm and hand look like brown mechanical rods, her right leg and left leg have merged inside that concrete-looking blob that represents Yatagarasu's "elephant's foot", and both are surrounded by four visible spinning atoms.

The most frightening feature of hers is when, from the massive eye taking her entire chest, rises the image of Okuu herself bathed in flames, with her wings expanded and looking strong while speaking in a warped voice "intruders. You are in Master's private playground. Leave now, or be fused with me for eternity."

Satori lifts her head to gaze upon her pet and her flaming image, terror fills her and is unable to hide it, and yet speaks calmly, though a little high-pitched as she says "Okuu! Okuu, sweetie, it's me! It's Satori! I-I've come to take you back home!"

The fire girl before them looks down at the girl with a questioning hum, then chuckles and says "Satori, huh!? You must be with that tengu too. Well that changes everything. Stay there while I turn your bodies to ash! But before that, I'll make you and your new favorite bird suffer long!"

After saying those horrible words, the fiery girl enters her body, the flames engulf every inch of her body, though simply singe her clothes a bit, her legs separate as her muscles grow and tone up, and now has two elephant legs and a pair of circling atoms on each knee, her left arm becomes a flaming blade, the fingers on her right control rod-arm glow with power, her left eye becomes a ball of blue fire, her right one becomes a greenish-yellow flame, black blades grow on her wings, mimicking her feathers, and to all of this, that third eye remains as it was; a red oval with a black slit pupil on the center.

Satori shakes her head and says "I can't fight her! I just can't. This is not like when that goddess tricked her! Aya-chan, this is all my fault!"

Aya sighs as she takes a step forward, stares bravely at the flaming hell raven before her, and says "Satori-chan, I can't force you to fight her, but I cannot defeat her on my own. Please, you have to be strong, and help me! The cauldron is near!"

And true enough, when the mind-reader looks up at the sky, she can see the thick concentration of rusty clouds rising to the sky a mere building away.

She looks back at her pet, stares at that disgusting glow coming from inside her smiling mouth, then looks away and says "I can't. She doesn't deserve to be punished. But I do. I'm sorry... Aya."

* * *

><p>The tengu takes off to the sky, followed by the fiery zombie hell raven, who doesn't need to flap those hew wings of her to fly.<p>

She immediately swings a small tornado from her fan toward the monster girl, but she easily brushes it off with that flaming left hand, then raises her right and shoots four surprisingly thick beams at the reporter, making her scream with fright, and forcing her to dive.

Zombie Utsuho quickly follows after the crow, ready to kick her hard, but is surprised by a flash on the face from that reporter, and flaps those bladed wings to get away from the second flash.

Aya realizes how lucky she was she hit that shutter by accident, then looks down to the ground at Satori, and shouts "please, I need help! She's too strong!"

Before she can hear the reply, she's already flying fast, away from the chasing zombie raven, who is trying to grip her left leg with her left hand, which has taken the shape of an actual hand, but the fingers are clearly very sharp blades.

To save herself, she pushes her body hard to make a quick loop over her attacker, kicks the zombie on the back, then locks several beams at her head, and shoots them before the zombie crashes.

Okuu cries out loud when those beams hit her head and break a hole to her pulsating brain on the left side, but acting as though nothing of the sort has happened, the springs on her feet, aims her right hand up, and shoots a Master Spark-sized beam of orange that, even though misses its mark, weakens the tengu enough to knock her down to the ground due to the intense heat.

The mind-reader winces when she sees her friend crash so hard head-first to the ground, but when Zombie Okuu looks at her and stares, as though blaming her for her current state, the satori maiden finds herself unable to move from that spot.

Sure that Satori won't bother her, the zombie girl turns her attention back to the crashed reporter recovering from her daze, rushes over to her in an instant, and grabs her by the waist with her right hand.

"First, I'll burn your eyes off, then, I'll incinerate your- ARGH!"

Aya shoots a flash straight at Okuu's third eye, causing her to scream in pain and stumble back after releasing her, then follows up with ten beams that hit that eye in the center.

The flaming zombie roars and groans loudly as she holds the eye on her chest, then screams "Satori-samaaaaaa! IT HURTS!"

The mind-reader gasps and raises her head to look at her pet with longing behind her eyes as she hesitates to answer her pet hell raven's call.

The tengu reporter knows where this is going, and can see the concern in her friend's eyes, but fails to notice the flaming blade headed toward her, and howls when that very blade cuts through her hip and burns her insides.

Her memories of that ancient tengu war suddenly rush into her mind, the pain from the sword wound leaves her, and she hops backward to free herself from that blade, then jumps forward and punches that eye, pushing the monster girl back.

Again, she shoots a flash and locks ten beams on that eye, and while Zombie Utsuho screeches and roars in pain, Aya shouts "don't listen to her! She's one of them, Satori-chan! She'll only be herself after we take care of that cauldron!"

The flaming monster tackles the tengu and knocks her to the ground, turns around and jumps on her, then poor Shameimaru screams when those bladed wings pierce her skin and refuse to leave her, even after that hell raven gets back up, and to make matters worse, Okuu starts flapping her wings, generating a magnetic energy that pushes and pulls the tengu against those blades while spinning and turning her around, and smiles when the girl's screams become gurgled pleas for mercy and help.

The flaming zombie laughs, takes flight, flapping her wings harder, destroying what was left of Aya's shirt and breaking her skin, making her bleed all over, and then finds herself grunting and forcefully falling to the ground.

The reporter has somehow positioned herself in a way that she could kick the monster on the back, and is using her mastery of the wind to push her down hard to the ground.

She makes sure to flatten that monster as she smashed her on the ground, kicks her on the side to roll her over, then shoots a flash and kicks the third eye, then repeats the attack over and over again, not caring that she's staining the ground with the blood pouring from her exposed upper body.

Unable to get up or fight back, the zombie raven plays a dirty and cold hand and cries "no! Stop! I give! S-Satori! Satori-sama! Please, save me! Satori-sama, I'm scared!"

Again, the mind-reader lifts her head, and now guilt starts creeping over her sense of responsibility for her pet, and shouts "Aya-chan, that's enough! She's ok now! STOP!"

The shirtless reporter kicks the zombie one more time, stares angrily at her friend, and shouts "don't fall for that, Satori-chan! She's trying to trick you!"

The black-haired girl resumes her attack and tries to hurry up to shut Zombie Utsuho up, while said monster sobs and cries a pitiable "Satori-sama~ Please, save me! I... I'm scared! Why is she hurting me? What did I do?"

Aya knows the next couple of attacks will be the last, lifts her leg for one final stomp, then starts looking around, as if lost, and asks "wait, wah? What's going on? M-my newspaper? Why is it spinning before... my...?"

Her answer becomes clear as soon as she realizes what happens, then shouts "NO! Satori-chan, she's going to kill you!"

"No, she's my Okuu! She needs my help, and I'll protect her, even if it's from you," angrily replies the mind-reader as her third eye glows faint-blue.

Before the crow tengu can speak, she is shot on the face by Zombie Okuu's beam at point blank range, and Satori can only watch in shock as her friend is burned, and almost disintegrated by that beam that melts her skin on contact.

The flaming monster kicks the girl away, struggles to stand, then looks to the mind-reader with a vicious smile on her face, and in a cold tone says "sucker. She was right about me. Now stand still while I turn you to ashes. I promise it will only hurt for a few minutes."

The flaming monster in Okuu's body slowly approaches the twitching girl, then mockingly says "aww, don't feel bad. I just used your pathetic feelings for me against you. You were bound to fall, seeing as I don't have a heart for you to read, dear _Satori-sama_."

Those cold words sting the satori youkai, who thinks of the many warnings from Nitori and Youmu, about not trusting anyone other than Aya and herself.

Tears quickly flow out of her eyes when she realizes how foolish she has been, grits her teeth when her rage fills her heart, yet still allows that monster to point those glowing fingers at her head.

Zombie Okuu's face shows confusion when she tries to shoot, but nothing happens.

She gestures her hand to shoot again and again, then realizes there are tears flowing out of her own flaming eyes, and furiously screams "what the hell is this? **What the HELL is this shit? I'm not supposed to care about this little weakling anymore!**"

Satori grabs the hand of the monster and lightly sets it aside, looks up at the monster's flaming eyes with rage building up behind her crying eyes, and in a dangerous tone of voice, she says "my sweet Okuu, thank you for protecting me. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, and I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to your body. And as for you, you insufferable bitch, I hope my Okuu burns you in hell forever!"

Zombie Okuu struggles desperately with herself to move, attack, cut that mind-reader to bits, but her body remains paralyzed where it is, and the elder Komeiji has gathered a frightful amount of energy right in front of her armored third eye, and it is all obviously aimed at that monster raven's third eye.

Again, the flaming zombie struggles desperately to break free from the real Okuu, but can't, and screams when the purple-haired girl takes two steps away, and fires twelve thick bright beams that snake their way in the air as they move straight toward that bright, round, red eye.

The zombie girl screams a hellish scream when those beams break her third eye open, enter her chest, and consume her from within, and thus, the mind-reader had to do exactly what she didn't want to do.

Her tears flow out of her eyes without control as she watches her pet fall to the ground, how her flames leave her body, making her look weak and pathetic once more, but even after the inevitable thud, she doesn't sob, or blink once.

After she is sure Zombie Okuu won't move anymore, she rushes over to Aya, and that's when her overwhelming anxiety and sadness mix together, and falls on her face after tripping on her own wobbly legs.

She gets up, panting when she tries to call for her friend, realizes she is actually three feet away from the ruined tengu, sobs louder when she sees the right side of Aya's face melted to the bone, and how her blood has been burned on the large wound on her shoulder.

Regardless, the takes out her three remaining bottles of divine water, shakes terribly as she opens the first one, spilling some of it on the ground, yet manages to pour it on the girl.

Despair takes her when she fails to see the immediate result from the healing water, so she opens the next one and bathes the girl with it, healing the wounds on her exposed body, cleaning her bra and skirt from the blood that spilled from her stomach and back, and finally, she can see the tengu's face reforming, then takes a long and hard sigh of relief, though her tears won't stop.

She stares at the semi-naked girl and cries loudly when she remember how that tengu asked for help the mind-reader wouldn't give, then reaches into her storage cube, and picks something out.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Aya and Satori sit next to either side of the door leading to the next segment of the castle, but neither is moving from that spot.<p>

The mind-reader has stopped crying, but her eyes hide in a shadow of shame as she looks left, away from her friend, while the tengu, who covers herself with Okuu's bloody cape; the very same one her dear friend had recovered in the Forest of Magic; looks to the right, away from her friend while a shadow of doubt covers her eyes.

The silence between them is maddening, but doubt is now turning the girls away from each other, and neither wishes to speak to the other, mentally, or through actual speech.

The tengu reporter quickly notices how wrong things are feeling between her and the mind-reader, and being the strong girl she really is, she breaks the awkward silence by coldly saying "to think this all started with one of those seemingly harmless incidents."

The purple-haired girl nods, and without looking at her friend, darkly adds "I know. We were hoping for Reimu to solve it, like she always does. To think we would be the ones dragged all over this alien world to solve the incident for ourselves. I still think it was all unfair."

The black-haired reporter sighs; her eyes lighten up, and in a softer tone of voice she says "yeah. We've been through so much together. At first I didn't like you reading my mind like that, but I started to like it more and more along the way, and then... I... started to like you more and more as well."

Satori giggles, lightening her eyes up as well, and without realizing it, looks at her tengu friend while saying "well, to be honest, I kinda liked you from the start. So strong, happy and determined. I was a little bit envious of you, but now... well now it's different."

Aya chuckles and turns her head to the mind-reader, smiles subtly, and asks "why do we suddenly have these doubts between each other? I mean, I was expecting you'd react this way when we'd reach your sister and your pets, but... I have to admit, it still hurt me, a lot, when you chose her over me."

The purple-haired girl's smile vanishes, another tear inexplicably rolls down her eye, and says "I'm so sorry. I thought your beating her like that had awoken her true self, just like when you broke that Makai goddess apart. But in a way, I was right, but..."

"Don't think about that now," softly says the tengu as the looks toward the body of the fallen hell raven, then says "yes, getting blasted hurt a lot, but not as much as your taking her side, instead of mine. But I understand they were there first, and your love for them runs deeper than our little bond."

She looks back at the youkai and smiles more naturally as she says "heck, chances are we'll just go our separate ways after this incident is solved. You, back to your home with your pets and your sister, and me back to my printing. Yeah, that lonely news printing. Outdated and useless..."

Satori gulps. Somehow the thought of their separation unsettles her greatly, and without thinking about it, she cries out "no, please! Don't leave."

Aya turns her surprised face toward the mind-reader, who says "I-I'm sorry. I-it's just that, I don't want to say 'goodbye' to you, Aya-chan. You have become very special to me, and thinking of leaving your side feels... so wrong. Please, if you don't like it at your village, come live with me at Chireiden! You'll be treated like family!"

Shameimaru can't help but smile as she discretely keeps moving toward her friend, and says "it's not that easy, Satori-chan. Regardless of my liking my village or its people, I belong to the tengu community, and I can't just break off like that. They'd hunt us down and kill us both."

Satori twitches when the tengu rests herself against her, smiles when she feels she's been forgiven; that terrible weight lifting as the crow girl's warmth envelops her; and softly says "yes, I guess you are right about that," then quickly rests her head on her friend's shoulder before she decides to move away.

The reporter twitches nervously when she feels her friend move, thinking she might get attacked, but she fights her own fright and negative thoughts, and remains there, then smiles contently when feeling at ease again.

During those minutes of silence, Satori notices her dear tengu friend has hidden her wings, but doesn't want to ruin the mood by saying something foolish, so the just accommodates herself and remains quiet beside her friend, who softly says "th-thanks for the cape."

After another minute passes, Shameimaru asks "do you think it's that cauldron's fault? I mean, the reason we suddenly started doubting each other like this after reaching this critical point?"

Komeiji shakes her head, and softly says "I don't know. Maybe. One thing is certain; it used the weakness of heart for my family and pets against me. If I were just a little stronger, like you, Aya-chan, perhaps this would never have happened."

The tengu wraps her arm around her dear friend's face, gently squeezes it against her shoulder, and softly says "no, Satori-chan. It was not that alone. I have to admit, I really do depend on you too much, and feel very unsafe when you're not with me. Perhaps I should be stronger than this, but I can't. I care too much about you, now more than ever, and want nothing more than to have you for myself. Perhaps if I weren't such a selfish coward, this would never have happened."

The mind-reader giggles and says "you know what? It's ok. It hurt back then, but we learned our lessons. As long as that was achieved, we shouldn't be thinking of changing too much. True, being a little stronger helps, but we should remain who we are. That's what I think."

The reporter giggles as she holds her friend's head a little longer, then gently lets her go, stands up, not caring that her bra is on full display through an opening, even with that cape wrapped around her neck, and extends her hand to her friend while saying "come, my dear, dear Satori-chan. The end of this adventure is near. Let us finish it together, like we promised from the start."

Satori smiles as she looks up at her dear girl, accepts the offered hand, and after getting up, they gaze into each others' eyes, and she says "yes, let's go forward, my dear, dear Aya-chan. I failed back there, but I promise, I won't fail you again. I'll protect our minds from that cauldron's magic while we fight that vile master together."

They hold hands as they look toward the door to the next destination, then the satori youkai adds "and now that we know who that master is, we can go prepared in mind and body."

Aya kisses her friend's cheek, distracting her mind from those dark thoughts she was headed to, and says "I understand this will hurt, but please, be very strong, and support me as best you can while I fight her. We'll defeat her together, knock that cauldron together, and we will get all our friends and allies back, even Okuu and Reimu."

The purple-haired youkai nods, smiles, and without saying another word they walk toward the door, push it open, and gaze at the next arena-like dome, which is larger than the one they were in, and is only five steps away from their location.

For once, they feel fortune is smiling at them, and then gaze up at the rusty clouds that seem to be at an arm's reach, and wonder if it's fortune, or just cruel fate in disguise.

Regardless, they move toward their last destination, tired, but eager to end their nightmare.

* * *

><p>The powerful winds threaten to rip the cape from the tengu's neck as they walk toward the last area of the castle, where the clouds keep pouring out of, but she no longer cares about decency.<p>

In both their minds is only that goal, and what they will do after it is all over, and with those thoughts strong in front of their minds, they open the last door.

Inside, they are met with a magical, and physical replica of the courtyard at the back of Chireiden, with the mansion behind the girls in an illusion on the wall, which changes to rocks and flowers that make a fake garden as the walls continue around.

The floor is an actual grassy garden, with real tables and chairs, all white in color, round and rectangular in shape, adorning three small parts of the large room, and in the middle, drinking tea on a round glass table with a white frame, sitting on an elegant white chair, is Rin Kaenbyou, or Orin, as she's called by her loved ones and friends, swaying her sharp and pointy steel-tipped tails behind herself.

Her hair, her ears, her dress, even her skin and her eyes appear to look normal, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear they are not.

Her skin is a little bluish, her red irises look empty and cold, her eyeballs have a hint of grey on them, and judging by the steel tips on her tails, she appears to be hiding her mutation well.

Far behind her, on a tall white platform stands the girls' goal; Alice's accursed cauldron, which keeps pouring rusty-colored clouds to the sky without stop.

Its brown thick liquid keeps swirling softly on its own inside the giant pot, as if mocking those girls, challenging them to get over there and knock it, then Orin stands, making a loud noise when scraping the chair's leg against a stepping stone, and mockingly says "welcome, my dears. Would you like some tea now, or wait until you're my zombie slaves?"

Even though she knew what was coming, Satori is still in shock of seeing her precious kasha guarding the cauldron and taking claim of ownership of the zombies, and all she can say is "Orin... Why? You were supposed to stay home."

Ignoring Aya's presence, the kasha glares at her former master, her eyes glow red, which causes the tengu's to glow as well, and coldly says "ah yes, about that. Okuu and I were so worried about you, we chased after you when the sun rose again."

She shrugs and casually says "or was it night? I don't remember," then smiles as though in great delight as she continues "ah, but we were trapped by those three fairies, and no matter how many times we shot them and killed them, they kept springing up and attacking.

Her hair frizzes up as evident rage rises to her head, making her eyes glow brighter and brighter, and suddenly screams "...We were so **SCARED, SATORI-SAMA! YOU WEREN'T THERE, SATORI-SAMA! WE NEEDED YOU, BUT YOU WEREN'T THERE, SATORI-SAMA!**"

After that sudden outburst, her hair settles down again as a creepy cat-like smile adorns her face, and sweetly says "but it wasn't your fault, really. We should have listened and stayed home, but you know how we are," then coldly adds "you should have taken us with you, just like we asked from the start, you freak."

The mind-reader gasps from those harsh words, but the tengu embraces her before she breaks down, and whispers "she's not your Orin. She's possessed, just like the others."

Satori nods, then the kasha snickers, grinning vilely at her former master, then says "ah, anyways, where was I? Oh yes, those two fairies Okuu took on bit her on the face, then the **STOMACH**, and then I stopped chasing the third bitch to save her. And I did it. I killed the little bitches, but it was too late. Okuu was crying."

"She called for you, Satori-sama. She was in great pain, and all I could do was break her neck to ease her pain, and that's when I met the most wonderful little blonde girl. She had such shiny and colorful wings too."

Orin starts walking left, away from the table while looking up as she reminisces while continuing her story.

"I was a little scared of her at first. She was angry because her own sister kicked her out of the house. She wanted revenge. She looked a little strange, but I didn't care. **I DON'T JUDGE!** Yes~ she offered me a way to bring Okuu back, and offered ME more power."

She suddenly twists her body to look at the girls with crazed eyes that contract and expand randomly, and a creepy grin that shows her new metallic jagged teeth, and screams "**I ACCEPTED! OF COURSE I DID, YOU STUPID BITCH! MORE POWER MEANS I CAN PROTECT SATORI! I LOVE YOU, SATORI-SAMA! I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU!**"

The kasha suddenly composes herself again, then calmly says "so, she pulled this really long nail and stabbed me on the neck with it, then did the same for Okuu, and wouldn't you know it, in a matter of seconds, Okuu-chan woke up, I felt stronger, and I understood so many things I didn't understand before!"

She passes her hands through her curvy body, as though trying to seduce the girls, and suggestively says "I even got to keep my gorgeous body intact" my breasts, my ears, my curves, my wonderful skin. Want to touch?"

After a short pause, Orin stretches her left hand and unleashes a set of nails the length of her arm, then casually continues "there's was something about dear Okuu though. She looked so weak, so Flan-chan, that little girl, offered we test her, and so we went after her sister at this red mansion place."

"There, we fought Remilia, but the blonde girl made her explode into many pieces without even fighting too hard, and then my Okuu ate the vampire's left wing, and BOOM, she grows this awesome fire self right out of her eye! What a glorious sight! After that, I decided to take the cauldron here, and, well... here we are."

The kasha smiles, just like Satori remembers her, and says "wow, you actually let me speak my monologue. I guess you were really curious about me and Okuu."

The fur on both her tails begins to bury itself into her skin, and is replaced by small white thorns that cover those tails entirely, her cat-ears take a metallic color, her fangs grow two times their size, and then she casually removes her shoes to allow the pair of mouths under her feet to stretch and yawn.

While the kasha hums happily as she transform, Aya thinks "_Satori-chan, please, stay with me! She looks dangerous! I don't think I can do it on my own! Please! Satori!_"

There is no response from the mind-reader, who seems is just about to break down to cry, while Orin, who stands ready to attack, coos and says "you know what? I've been conscious of my action all this time. I took that cauldron to protect Satori-sama from the many wonderful corpses running around..."

The kasha's composure breaks when she suddenly shouts "and then I saw how you two were going around immobilizing my beautiful minions! I was so mad! I even made this game for you to have fun and enjoy the company of these wonderful beings, but NOOOOO! You had to go around, TRYING TO KILL THEM ALL!"

She sighs as she recomposes herself, looks at the mind-reader, then softly says "ah, I lost my mind after that, and decided I wanted to make you two into corpses as well, and make you part of the game forever. It's safe to say my love for the game and all this power is now far greater than my love for Satori-sama."

The satori maiden can feel her heart crack in several places at once, her breathing becomes labored, and she drops on her knees as her strength leaves her body.

Aya shouts, trying to cheer her up, or maybe snap her out of that pain, but the mind-reader can't hear her.

Satori isn't sure anymore, and she doesn't really care. All she wants now is for everything to end, as the day she dreaded the most, the day one of her pets would admit hating her too, like those humans and youkai from the surface world, would come and destroy her world.

Orin starts to cry after seeing the mind-reader drop in such a pained state, but laughs with glee and shouts "now, time to make you two permanent players of the game with my own two hands! Don't worry, when I cut you, your transformations will be **TWICE** as painful! HAHAHAHA~"

In her rage, Aya fails to see the tears rolling down the kasha's cheeks as she laughs at her former master's pain, and rushes forth to kill that monster that destroyed her Satori-chan's heart.

* * *

><p>The enraged tengu lands the platform of her sandal on the nose of the monster kasha, then quickly shoots several flashes on her face, but the cat girl manages to duck in time and escape the bright light.<p>

She quickly throws a punch above her head and lands it between the crow girl's legs, but to Aya's luck, it only helped push her up, saving her from the claw swipe that followed.

Orin curses out loud, then looks at Satori and shouts "FINE! I'll kill YOU instead!"

She launches herself toward the mind-reader, and is bombarded by a curtain of green leaf-bullets, and red and blue orbs in ring formations, then the black-haired girl in the air growls "you're not touching her," as she lands on the kasha's chest, and shoots a flash directly on her face.

The monster cat girl's screech forces the tengu to fly away for fear of going deaf, then grins darkly and thinks "_shit, I'll have to use all I got to finish this bitch off. Come on Shameimaru, once she's dead, the cauldron is history!_"

The deranged Orin kicks off the ground and flies after Aya, and when in range, she throws a kick, and the mouth under her foot tries to reach for the tengu's neck, but the girl pulls away from that attack, then back-flips to avoid the bladed thorny tails.

Right after dodging those attacks, the reporter raises her left arm and showers the cat with several blue orbs, and while she's distracted with the danmaku, the bird girl lands a knee on the kasha's stomach, shoots a flash directly in front of her face, and strikes her with an elbow to the neck.

Shameimaru grins when she watches that girl fall, but gasps and frowns when Orin spins, lands on her feet, and kicks off after her.

Before she has a chance to defend herself, the crying, grinning monster girl lands a knee on the tengu's stomach, grips the back of her neck with her left hand, and then threatens to stab her with those nails.

She looks at the bird girl's frightened face, then at her claws, balls her hand into a fist, and repeatedly punches the girl on the face, laughing heartily while saying "excellent, excellent! SOME SPORT! HAHAHAHAHA I'll reshape your face before turning you!"

On the ground, the heart-broken Satori has managed to get her last bottle of divine water out of the storage cube again, and as she slowly unscrews it and takes it to her lips, she thinks "_it hurts, so much! But she's going to kill her! I have to save Aya-chan. Forgive me Orin, Okuu, I promise, I'll make it up to you both, somehow._"

After ending her thoughts, she realizes she has drunk the entire contents of that bottle, and no longer feels the pain in her heart; only a sense of duty and determination that gives her the strength she's needed all along, and before long, takes flight after Orin and Aya.

Nearing the ceiling of the massive room, the kasha is still smashing her fist as hard as she can on the reporter's face, and her frustration is evident on her face when, after all this time, the crow girl's face still looks undamaged

Shameimaru smiles at her attacker after she stops attacking, then the cat girl furiously asks "**what in the hell is your face made of?**"

Aya chuckles and grins, then says "oh, you just hit like a girl. Here, allow **ME!**"

The tengu's uppercut to the stomach of the kasha shatters her ribs and pushes the air out of her lungs as the force of the impact sends her flying straight up to the ceiling, and before the flashes follow that attack, Satori's ten beams of light coil around the monster girl and cause her to scream as they burn her skin, then the monster girl falls after her strength fails her.

The reporter girl smiles at her friend, and softly asks "are you alright?"

The mind-reader shows the girl the empty bottle, stares sternly at Orin as she crashes on the floor, then dives down without saying a word.

Aya follows her friend to assist her, and both shoot their danmaku at the girl during their dive down.

Orin gasps and rolls away before the bullets reach her, Satori swoops down and tackles her back, the crow girl goes for the follow-up, but is struck by the sharp tails on her exposed stomach, so the satori youkai quickly compromises by shooting her flash at the cat.

The kasha manages to zip away just in time, and from the air screams "**LIKE I'LL LET A WHINY BITCH LIKE YOU BEAT ME!**"

The purple-haired girl quickly flies after her pet, shoots several delayed beams from her third eye, shoots streams of hearts from her hands, and then grabs her cat by the tails, ignoring that her hands are getting shredded as she holds the monster cat in place.

The danmaku blows up all over the monster kasha, the delayed beams hit her eyes and open mouth, then the mind-reader swings her around and throws her against the left walls, and follows with a smashing kick to the chest.

Aya flies in and shoots another flash to the cat's eyes, then Satori grabs her pet with her bloodied hands by the neck, squeezes her tight, kicks her stomach until she opens her mouth to gasp for air, then shoots three beams inside.

The purple-eyed girl twirls in the air to avoid a claw-swipe from the kasha, and although her shirt gets yet another cut on the abdomen, her skin is safe, and flies away so that the tengu may shoot her beams.

Orin roars with rage when those beams strike her on the face and breaks off one of her cat ears, then launches herself after the bird girl, strikes her on the shoulder with her claws, almost cutting Okuu's cape off, but before she can follow up with the tails, the mind-reader swoops down and punches her cat on the cheek.

The kasha manages to stay airborne, foams at the mouth when she snarls with pure rage, then zips around both girls, confusing them and nailing both with a tail to the back.

The girls crash on the floor on their faces, but quickly hop back up, then Aya gasps when she sees Satori pushing Orin back with her bare, bloodied hands, which are locked with the kasha's.

While on that stalemate, Orin sinisterly says "you disgust me, Satori Komeiji! You have ALWAYS disgusted me! All those years pretending to care about you, just thinking about that makes me SICK! I want you DEAD! I want your lovely corpse! **I WILL MAKE YOU DANCE FOR ME!**"

The mind-reader sees how tears start flowing out of the monster kasha's eyes, smiles, and then casually says "oh, you say that now, but we both know you love me. You, Okuu, Koishi, you all love me. I could talk to you, understand you when you were trying to talk back, and I still do. I love you too, Rin Kaenbyou."

Orin's body twitches violently, she gasps out loud, her strength fails her, and she drops on her knees in front of the mind-reader, then sobs and says "I'm so sorry Satori-sama! I didn't mean all that, but you have to hate me! You have to kill me, or I won't let you pass!"

Satori leans over, kisses the kasha on the forehead, and sweetly says "I know."

The kasha girl lifts her sight to look at the mind-reader's warm, motherly eyes, smiles, and then starts to shiver after letting her head drop.

The cat girl roars and suddenly stands, threatens to push her claws into her master's neck with her overwhelming strength, and furiously screams "**NOOOOO! YOU WON'T BEAT ME! YOU CAN'T! THIS WORLD IS MINE, MY OWN! IT BELONGS TO ME! YOU CAN'T TAKE IT!**"

Aya finally reacts, kicks off the floor as hard as she can, tackles the cat girl and sends her flying backward toward the cauldron, then Satori shoots ten more beams after her pet.

Orin's body bounces right off the cauldron's edge; yet it doesn't budge and inch; then the beams strike her in the eyes and mouth, and after she lands on the ground, a whimper escapes her lips, and she falls limp on the edge of that platform, expelling what little breath was left in her.

* * *

><p>Satori stands in the very same spot for a long time, though is not sure how long exactly, while Aya stares at her, and wonder if she should be the one to spill that cauldron, seeing as her friend is frozen in shock.<p>

The mind-reader suddenly runs toward the cat girl's body, worrying the tengu, who shouts "no, Satori-chan, wait!"

She is surprised when the purple-haired girl jumps over her pet's body and walks straight toward the cauldron.

That girl stares into that thing with the outmost hatred and disgust, lifts her hand to push it over, then stops, narrows her eyes a bit, and suspiciously says "wait a minute..."

The reporter stares at her friend with curiosity, and then loudly asks "what's the matter, Satori-chan? Don't you want to end this?"

"This is not it," angrily shouts Satori as she looks to Aya, and furiously screams "**this is not IT! It's a FAKE! A FUCKING FAKE!**"

The tengu's hopes take a big dive into hell, the light leaves her face, and all she manages to do is whimper a pathetic "what? A... a f-fake?"

The mind-reader roars to the air to vent out her extreme rage, when in her mind she repeats what she did to Okuu, and what she just did and said to Orin, then lifts her arms to grab the fake cauldron and toss it away in order to vent out more of that rage.

The second her hands touch that cauldron, it becomes a bright yellow light that illuminates the whole room, and before the girls question what is going on, the cauldron grows as it takes a rectangular shape and flies over to the farthest end of the room, where it stops glowing, and reveals itself to be the next door to the true final part of the castle.

A large window opens up above the door and reveals to the girls the part of the architecture they had forgotten; the European styled architecture with randomly placed black and red, bloodstained bricks, towers with metallic tips that draw the green bolts to them, and now, a very familiarly frightening giggle reach the girls' ears.

They can see how the clouds flow from within it like a waterfall toward the sky, and in a sudden burst of energy, Aya gasps and says "oh shit, I had forgotten about that! Then that means... it's not over yet! S-Satori-chan, it's just one more room!"

The mind-reader holds her chest as her heart recovers from her sudden fit of rage, looks at her friend with an exhausted smile, points with her thumb at the door, revealing her hands have begun to heal, and says "come on, let's go then. It's just one more."

The tengu smiles back, though looking equally tired, but stops her walk toward her friend after the terrible sound of breaking flesh and bones rings around her ears.

Orin's bloody clawed hand has gone through Satori's back and chest, breaking through her spine, heart and ribs, but what affects the reporter the most is that horrible face of terror and despair on her friend's face, and be completely helpless and unable to do anything anymore.

The cat girl smiles and wiggles her bloodied fingers, mocking the tengu, then coos with delight after the mind-reader twitches violently.

The satori maiden finally grunts long and loud as the kasha swings her around, then tosses her away, points at the tengu with that same bloody hand, and weakly says "you won't reach her! I won't let you touch her!"

Aya Shameimaru isn't sure how, or when she reacted, but she has somehow reached the hated cat girl on the platform and is holding her by both arms, and without any mercy, she pulls those limbs off, grabs the cold girl by the neck, sinks her fingers into the kasha's eyes, blowing them up with her own hands, and pushes her down on the floor.

By the time she realizes what she has done, she's shot a tenth flash on that limp body, and breathes hard through her mouth as the realization sinks in.

Before long, Aya finds herself running to Satori's body, all the way to the left of the room, kneels besides her, and desperately screams "**Satori! Don't worry, I'll heal you! I got your back! Shh, shh, don't speak, don't speak! I'll save you.**"

She doesn't know exactly why she is so frightened, after all, Satori is a youkai, and she will not die from such a wound, but deep inside of her, she knows what has her so frightened, but she chooses to ignore this knowledge.

She desperately rummages through her pocket and pulls her storage cube with unneeded force, quickly presses the button and reaches deep within for one of her remaining bottles of water, and quickly breaks the top of with a twist of her wrist.

She pours the whole thing on Satori's chest, making her convulse and gasp out of breath, and frightfully says "shh, shh, it's alright, it's ok! It's healing."

She saves a fourth of the water, turns the mind-reader around to clean her back, and slumps when her hope leaves her again.

Tears start rolling down her cheeks, sobs escape her reluctant, wriggling lips, and even though she can see them there with her own eyes, she wants to deny it.

Satori's back is full of those yellow veins, surrounding the wound made by Orin, but even when she sees them there, she wants to deny they are there; she wants them to disappear, and so she pours the divine water without question on the girl's back.

The wound heals and seals up, but the veins only grow in size and numbers.

Aya starts to whimper as despair takes her heart, but she's not giving up, and quickly goes for the last bottle of divine water, and then Satori herself grips her right hand, and sternly says "don't!"

The tengu sobs loudly, and then cries "no! Don't start acting brave now! I have to save you!"

"SAVE IT!" shouts the mind-reader, startling the reporter and making her stop her useless attempts to save her friend.

The elder Komeiji smiles at the girl before her, raises her cold pale hand to touch the girl's face, and softly says "you saw it with your own eyes. I know. I saw it too, in your mind. So save that last one for yourself. You might need it."

The reporter's lips tremble and her entire body shivers when she tries to argue, but fails miserably in her attempt, and ends up grabbing the mind-reader's hand and pressing it against her own cheek.

Satori continues smiling, suppressing the pain of the transformation so as not to frighten her friend, and softly says "I'm sorry I was so careless, and right at the very end too. Forgive me."

Aya sobs out loud, grabs her dear partner in a tight embrace, and after a few sobs, she says "no, it's alright. It's not your fault. It's not!"

Unable to return the hug for fear of revealing her pain, the purple-haired girl sighs her frustration away, and weakly says "I couldn't go with you to the end. I broke my promise. I am sorry about that. But Aya-chan, you have to go on, there's no other choice. If you don't, then I will really turn, and I'll kill you, and then, who will end this?"

The crying tengu knows this is the truth, and fails to find words to counter the satori's.

Her dear friend suddenly grunts, then starts to moan with pain and convulse as her body is ravaged by the virus.

She forces Aya to let her go, falls hard on the ground, and trying to suppress her desire to scream, she whimpers "Aya-chan, please, kill me. This really hurts. You have to kill me now, please. The pain, th-the pain is too maddening!"

Satori grunts in her last attempts to suppress the pain, but ends up screaming when a horrible sensation of burning needles in her bloodstream claims her.

Before she can beg for death again, the tengu grabs her head, and without thinking about it, twists it fast, for a painless death.

* * *

><p>Crying, Aya closes her friend's eyes, grips the opening on Okuu's cape to fight the cold sensation punishing her chest, then looks to the ground between her legs.<p>

She suddenly raises her arms, lifting that cape up along with them, balls them into fists, and then shouts "Satori-chan! Satori-chan, wake up!"

The tengu lets her fists drop lightly on the dead mind-reader's chest, and loudly cries "I refuse to leave you now! Satori-chan, wake up! We're almost there! It's just one more room, you said so yourself! ...**COME ON!**"

She gasps when there's a loud clunk coming from the entrance, gets on her feet with her camera on hand, and declares "don't worry Satori-chan! I won't let them touch you!"

She looks at the door, raises her camera, and shouts "COME ON YOU! COME AND GET SOME! I'LL KILL YOU ALL LONG BEFORE YOU GET MY SATORI!"

Aya gasps again when, instead of zombies, sees Yuka entering through the door and looking around, then scoffing and saying "shit, we're too late!"

She enters the room and reveals her left leg looks purple and rotten, yet she looks at the tengu, waves playfully, smiles, and says "hi there. Sorry we're so late."

Before the bird-girl's mind registers the current happenings, Marisa enters the room, looking glum and annoyed, while from behind her, Nitori shouts "**and if you think I'm letting you out of my fucking sight, you are WRONG, BITCH!**"

The greenish kappa enters the room with a mechanical-looking cuff that links magically to the witch's right wrist, and when she notices Aya looking at them, she points at the black and white-dressed zombie girl and says "bitch says she's here to help, **but I don't believe her! She's going to SABOTAGE this operation! I'M SMACKING HER NOW!**"

Before Marisa even has a chance to speak, the kappa is already beating her with a bat, but doing nothing, as each skull-crack heals the instant the bat is pulled back.

"You guys?" questions the dumbstruck tengu, who suddenly notices the loud commotion outside from the new windows that have opened all around the large arena.

Yamame, Patchouli and Koakuma are currently fighting the Chinese zombie dragon, and it is obvious they are winning from the pained screeches of the beast.

Further to the left of them are Kaguya, riding one of the larger zombie dragons and making it do her bidding with ease, and Akyuu putting another dragon to sleep with her mist.

Aya tries to question these events, but then Eirin enters through the door and says "it's alright Miss Shameimaru. We are all allied to you here."

The Lunarian has no mutations, no visible wounds on her body, a few tears on her clothes, but nothing else.

Amazed by how well the pharmacist looks, the tengu gasps with admiration, and asks "you? But there are no wounds, not cuts, no blood. How is that even possible?"

Eirin giggles, then says "believe me, I've been in much worst situations than this. But now is not the time for that. There is someone that wishes to say 'hi' to you."

The Lunarian opens the door wider, and allows Kogasa Tatara to come into view, shocking the tengu to the point she's left frozen with her mouth agape while staring at her fallen friend.

Kogasa's umbrella looks far more tattered than before, and its tongue looks dry, pale and thin.

Kogasa herself has grey skin, and the wounds on her stomach and right upper arm are still there, though they are not covered with blood, or any kind of disgusting substance.

Other than that, the karakasa youkai has no visible mutations, and her eyes have the same life they had before her death.

She smiles at her old partner, waves her right hand, and calls "hello Miss Aya-san! It's been a while!"

"Kogasa!" excitedly whispers the tengu girl after dropping on her knees, and then asks "but how? How is this possible? Satori! Maybe Satori will be like Kogasa too!"

"About that," begins Eirin as she walks over to the tengu, grabs her arm, takes an empty syringe from her pocket, and says "I need a sample of your blood, or Satori will become another one of those mindless monsters out there."

The bird girl stares at the empty syringe, but instead of the terrified reaction expected by everyone in the room, she just nods and says "do it! Whatever you need to do to cure Satori-chan, just do it," disappointing all for the lacking reaction.

The disappointed Lunarian smiles and says "my, what a boring reaction," then takes the sample right out of the tengu's arm, takes another syringe, this one with a lilac substance inside, takes another bit of blood from the crow girl, the liquid turns light-blue, then says "right, now for the girl."

She rushes over and kneels next to the mind-reader, and as she injects her with that light-blue liquid, she says "I'm sorry, but this won't work immediately. As things are, even if your satori girl wakes up, she might be a threat."

"That's right," begins Kogasa, who remains behind Yuka and Nitori while saying "Miss Yagokoro found me after Reimu hid me behind some houses, and saw that the tears that fell inside my wound from Miss Aya's eyes were working like anit... anti-"

"Antibodies," softly says the Lunarian as she stands up, and continues "since you are so strong against this virus, your blood, your tears, any biological residue from you can counter this vile virus, and so, mixing that with the weak antidote I had created, I was able to make an actual counteragent that could at least save a host from total infection."

She looks at Satori as her skin turns a little paler, rubs her chin while exploring that girl's body with her eyes, and says "I needed a sample from yours and Satori's blood to make an effective antidote that can actually return all those infected back to normal, but I was never able to reach you in time."

"Still, even with this powerful antidote that I can now create thanks to your blood sample, it will still fail to do its full job if things remain as they are."

All this sudden blast of information spins inside Aya's head, but she manages to absorb the more important information, then, by her own self, manages to deduce the rest of Eirin's explanation.

"So, fist you need me to stop these clouds so that you can apply that cure to everyone without the risk of it failing?"

Eirin smiles and nods, and coos "very good~", then more naturally says "and so, I know this is hard, but you must go forth. I would accompany you, but I don't have the same protection against the cauldron itself, like you do."

Kogasa looks away as though in shame, and says "I would come with you too, but even now, I have this urge to try and bite you. Th-that's why I ran away from you when you saw me at the underground city. I didn't want to hurt you, but at the same time, I did, so I ran away when you chased me."

Yuka places a friendly hand on the karakasa's head, smiles far too sweetly, and in a sickening bubbly tone, says "that's right~! Even one-fourth turned as I am, I also have this urge to kill you, so I'm afraid your are on your own."

Marisa sighs, and in a low tone of voice, says "I told you, you are on your own against that thing. Even I am feeling like ripping your neck right now... and stopping you from making my life a misery."

Nitori grabs the zombie witch by the collar of her shirt, and though gritted teeth, snarls "I would LOVE to help her destroy your godsdamned **FUCKING LIFE,** but I can't get close to her either! **SUFFER YOU BITCH!**"

Before long, the kappa has the bald magician in a headlock, and then rips her head off, which actually bounces off the ground and lands back on her neck, straightened and neatly positioned, like it never left.

Doubt takes the reporter as she looks around the room for a shred of hope, or maybe something that might encourage her, and then she lays her eyes on Satori.

Noticing the glow on Aya's eyes, Eirin grins, and says "I'll make it easier for you to get your courage, my dear. Either you go and solve this nightmarish incident and end this mess, or the next time you see this girl alive, she won't be able to get close to you without trying to kill you."

And so, Aya is left with only one choice, and that is to brave fighting that master, and knocking that cauldron on her own.

She isn't sure on what exactly to say, and remains on her knees, looking at the floor between them, while thinking carefully on her next move.

* * *

><p>To be concluded...<p>

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

The Castle at the Nameless Hill was created by Willie G.R. (similarities are strictly coincidental).

JAN 23 2012

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**And so, we reached the grand finale. Will Aya chicken out after all the shit she's been through? I don't think so. I wouldn't. And I AM an A-class chicken, mind you. But trust me, after going through all that shit, just to chicken out in the end, even I would just go for it. By now, I am VERY certain you all know who the real "Master" is. Congratulations to those that actually got it right a while ago, as the clues I left were obvious, but at the time, a bit misleading ;). But I digress. Thank you for reading this far, and hope you'll stick around for the end. Until next chapter.**

**A shout to my friends at the Let's Danmaku Forums. Hope we can talk through the forums like before soon. Sorry I'm not that active at the chat though.**


	16. Truly Back Home? ? ?

**NOTICE: Harsh language and strong content ahead (though still not strong enough for M rating)**

* * *

><p><em>Aya here; just thinking...<em>

_Satori and I entered this castle together. We fought many monsters that were guarding this place, and amongst them were those we cared about, or knew: Reimu and Hatate, and Satori's pets, Okuu and Orin. There were also Chiyuri and Yumemi, which were surprisingly dangerous for being human zombies, Mamizou, a very dangerous newcomer to Gensokyo, and there even were these fairies that looked normal, but really were just mutants in disguise. Not to mention we met that bird girl that loves books, the one that loves hanging around Kourindou, for some odd reason. When we fought Okuu, Satori turned on me. It cost me great pain, both physical and emotional; and I have to admit, the fact that she chose her pet over me hurt me far more than having half of my face melted. But she is her pet, and she's been there long before me. I am... the one that's an extra in her life. When we fought Orin, she left me on my own again, or at least, that is what I thought. She drank her last bottle of divine water and fought by my side, harder than I've ever seen her fight. We've been through so much. She's been there from the start. ...So why? Why at the very damned end? Why did she leave me? Why did she turn? **It's not fair! We should have been together for this!** But now... I have to make a choice. I called for her, and she didn't respond; then they came. Everyone that's been allied to us in a way, all of them came. Yuka, Nitori, Marisa, Yamame, Akyuu, Koakuma, Patchouli, even Kogasa. What really surprised me was seeing that Lunarian doctor, Eirin Yagokoro, and the Lunarian Princess, Kaguya Houraisan, among them. That doctor woman didn't have a scratch on her, and all she could tell me was "I've been through worse." Bitch. If she was doing so fucking well, why didn't she help us? **If she had helped, then maybe...** just maybe, Satori-chan would be with me. But it's too late. Satori is gone now, leaving me; I'm on my own. It all falls on me now, now when I feel my own mind failing me. We might as well accept the fact that we're doomed._

A sudden realization hits the tengu hard, and waking up from her trance, she looks at Eirin, who still stands next to Satori's body, and demands "hey, just a minute? When we saw Yuka before, she had been killed recently, so how in the hell is she conscious now?"

The pharmacist smiles ever so sickeningly sweetly, coos as though this is some sort of fun game for her, and says "it's my antidote. It took three hours, but it worked. She's conscious, self-aware, but~ her leg remains zombified."

Something about that irritates the flower youkai, but she doesn't move from the spot next to the entrance of that arena, and neither do any of the girls there.

Aya sighs when she takes notice of that, and says "so it's true. None of you can help me."

The silver-haired woman shakes her head and says "I'm sorry, but we can't. Understand, with this new serum I've created with your blood, your dear girl will wake up in an hour as if nothing ever happened, but as things are, if she were to get close to the source of this virus, she will succumb to it, as will we all."

Again, that news fills the tengu reporter with hesitation and doubt, evident on the lost look on her face, and again she looks to the ground by her knees, and thinks.

"**HEY!**"

A sudden call from outside turns everyone's attention to the window on the right of the room, and snaps the tengu from her thoughts.

There, Kaguya; whose skin has turned whitish-grey and saggy, her eyes have lost the iris, but seem more normal than most zombies, and, of course, has cleaned off all the messy makeup she had before; waves casually from outside, and smiles, revealing her still-jagged teeth and large pointy fangs.

Once she is sure Aya is looking at her, she cheers "go on! You can do it bird-girl-san! From what Eirin told me, you have gone through quite a lot already! A little more should be nothing for you!"

"_Well yes, but that was with Satori-chan's help,_" thinks the tengu before finally realizing she's been called a 'bird-girl', like it's her title or something.

Before she can complain, from the other window next to Kaguya's, Akyuu and the monstrous Koakuma flip a thumb up at the girl, then the physical-ghost Patchouli squeezes between them, and throws a green gem at the reporter.

Aya is about to shoot that gem away, but the deformed devil shouts "no, wait! It's good for you!" stopping that tengu from making a mistake.

The second that gem touches her head, she feels her body soothe, and all her aches leaving, while the devil, with that embarrassingly monstrous boyish voice, says "we understand it's hard for you, but we beg of you, please end this!"

"That is right," adds Akyuu, placing her hands together as though praying, and continues "you aren't the only one affected by this, and you know it. We are begging here, free us from this hell."

Again, the tengu reporter shuts herself in her own doubtful thoughts, but then Nitori furiously shouts "**what the FUCK is your problem? You get in there, and KICK THAT'S BITCH-MASTER'S ASS! RIGHT NOW!**"

The little greenish kappa whimpers as she covers her own face in shame, and softly says "sorry, sorry. I-I'm just excited."

Yuka glares at the tengu reporter, and grins ominously, then Kogasa jumps in front of her and cheers "you can do it, Miss Aya-san! We know you can!"

Marisa sighs while hiding her left hand inside her pocket, and coldly says "look, you are the only one that can go in there without turning. Get that fact into your head; we. can't. go. in. with you! Even if we do get a shot of Eirin's new antidote."

The mentioned Lunarian now stands next to the tengu, places her hand on the girl's shoulder, and says "look, there is one component needed for this antidote to take its full effect. One I cannot make with any science or magic advancement available."

She points out the nearest window with her left hand, and says "it needs the sun to turn all the people back to the way they were. So while those clouds remain..."

She, then, points down at Satori's body to the right of the room, and says "...she will wake up looking like one of them. You don't want that for her, do you?"

Shameimaru remains as she is, kneeling on the ground and looking around, then to the ground, then very suddenly gets up, and walks over to the mind-reader's body.

She gently kneels besides her, leans closer, and after a quick kiss on the lips; and ignores the obvious surprised reactions from all present; she stands up, and without saying a single word, turns her back on her allies and walks toward the next door.

As she gets closer to it, her thoughts turn to Satori, anxiety claims her, and her large wings sprout on their own, pulling that cape off and exposing her bloodstained pink brassiere.

She opens the door to a dark room, looks back at the girls with her tired eyes, aims her sight at Eirin, and says "please, take care of Satori for me. If she wakes up before I come back, tell her I'll be back soon."

The Lunarian nods once, then Aya nods back, turns around again, and walks into the deep darkness, ignoring the cape flopping down to the ground behind her.

Marisa suddenly reveals her left hand, holding her Hakkero tight, points it at the door, but Nitori cuts that arm off with a quick chop, and shouts "**hah! I knew it! You are a SELFISH BITCH TO THE END!**"

The witch drops on her knees as a new hand grows back, like a tree growing its roots, though in fast motion, then covers her face with those hands and cries "I'm sorry. I swear, I didn't want to do... but I did... I... I don't want her to win!"

Eirin stops Nitori from bashing the witch's head with the bat again with just a gesture from her hand, and says "it's the mental suggestion's effect. We have to get you all out of here while that girl deals with that so-called master."

Everyone remains where they are, looking coldly at the Lunarian, but quickly comply when the woman draws her bow with that deadly, compassionate look in her eyes, and says "just move."

* * *

><p>To Aya's surprise, the next room isn't as dark as it looked from the arena before, though it's still very dimly lit.<p>

It isn't really a room, but an ample, roofed corridor leading to some stairs, and to the left side of said corridor is a clean and comfortable-looking bed, a lamp, and a typewriter.

She ignores these and moves on straight toward the stairs that lead to a large black door, which leads to the only place of interest for her at the moment.

As she takes the first step up, many thoughts swim around her head, and doubt creeps itself into her heart.

"_Can I really do this?_", she asks herself as she takes the next step up, knowing who is up there, and wondering what is it that she can do to defeat this master person.

"_She's strong. She's very strong. And that power of hers. Wi...without Satori, what hope do I have? But... Satori..._"

Remembering her friend gives her the push she needs to move on, but by the sixth step, doubt takes her again.

"_Ugh, but what if I fail? What then? My mind... it's not what it was! I'm scared, when I know I shouldn't be. Even if I do die, I'll just revive, but I'm afraid. So very afraid. What if..._"

Her eyes begin to glow bright red as she reaches the halfway point of the steps, looks around as the dim light from the lamp below allows her youkai eyes to see back down, then her eyes glow so bright, she illuminates the area in front of herself.

"_What if I was tricked? What if they are eating Satori-chan, while I play the brave heroic bitch? Eirin, she tricked me! She's the master! SHE'S THE MASTER! She tricked me! She just wanted Satori-chan for herself! She... she..._"

The tengu reporter catches herself going back down the stairs, following those erratic thoughts of hers, but stops and says to herself "no. This isn't right. Sh-she had cuts on her dress. She was attacked. She can't be the master."

"SHAMEIMARU!"

She can suddenly hear Tenma shouting at her, and all of a sudden, she sees herself wearing a clean metal armor over her clothes, and instead of inside a corridor, walking down some stairs, she sees herself on the Youkai Mountain's base, walking up to the village.

Tenma's red, fierce, long-nosed mask is the only visible part of him to the girl as he points to the other direction, to the Youkai Forest, and shouts "where the hell do you think you are going? The battle is that way!"

Aya's legs begin to tremble as she hesitantly turns around, and then cries "bu... but I'm SCARED! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!"

She notices her voice sounds a lot softer than it is now, but she's too upset to actually pay attention to that.

Her leader face palms hard against that mask, almost taking it off as he rolls that hand down his face, and then irritably shouts "**WHAT THE HELL AM I HEARING HERE?** Aya, are you supposed to be a proud crow tengu, or just some pathetic human with wings attached?"

Her body steels after such an insult. She lifts her hands to take a good look at them, explores the gauntlet protecting the back of them, then she clenches her fists and looks up at her commander, then feels herself scowling, and shouts "hey, who the hell are you calling human?"

The mood lightens up between the two, then Tenma cheers "that's what I wanted to hear! Now go out there and fight! Show these fools what happens when you underestimate a tengu!"

"**YEAH!**"

Without realizing it, Aya is now running up the stairs again, while muttering gibberish about an enemy, and protecting the mountain, then suddenly adds "make Tenma and Satori-chan proud of me!"

Before long, she's reached the large black doors leading into the next room, and without an inch of hesitation, she kicks them open.

The doors make an impossibly loud bang and almost break off their hinges after they impact against the walls, then the black-haired girl walks through with her chin held up high, and her steeled eyes threatening everything in sight, then the doors slam shut behind her, though she doesn't even seem to notice.

This new, square arena is adorned to look exactly like the Scarlet Devil Mansion's main hall before it was remodeled to have those streams of blood for the mutant Remilia.

There is a long red carpet that starts at the door and crosses all the way to the back of the room, there are some empty bookshelves to the sides, a desk on the left with five books on magic wards and protections for all kinds of terrains, for people, and large architectures, and further back are at least twenty human zombies, a few fairies, and three of those disgusting, transparent, mutant vampires with slimy fetuses on the heads.

The tengu's eyes continue to glow as she raises her camera, readying herself as she takes slow, threatening steps toward that group of zombies, then stops her advance and tries to cover her semi-exposed chest with her arms when taking notice of something else in the center, and to the right of that gathering.

To the right she sees the real cauldron used for Marisa's immortality potion, pouring so many clouds to the sky through an ample opening on the roof, it's just like watching a waterfall in all its natural glory, except this one spews mutating rust-colored clouds to a sea of death in the sky though a chimney, instead of water to a stream freely.

In the center is a throne, and on it she can see a short pair of legs with short pink socks and red shoes hiding behind that insane crowd of monsters, then gasps when five of them explode one after the other, revealing Flandre Scarlet sitting comfortably on that majestic red chair, grinning while clenching her right hand at the zombies around them, and making them explode.

She ignores Aya as she watches with amusement as her monsters reform almost instantly after she blasts them to bits, then giggles contently when she blows them up again.

Her skin is greyish-white, her eyes have black vines growing right out of them, making her feminine features more defined and more terrifying, her dress, like always, is that red vest over that pink shirt and that short red skirt, though they are so covered in blood, so it's taken a brownish color all over.

Her black wings' frames look thicker, the crystals on her back have merged in a random manner that makes her wings look like clustered multi-colored icicles with the colors looking mixed, but at the same time makes her look larger and more menacing, but other than that, she still looks like the same old Flandre Scarlet; as frighteningly cute and sweet as ever.

The tengu stares at the hated girl with disgust, waves her hand toward the back of the room, and commands "away with you! I don't want to see you here again, you understand!"

The zombies stare at Aya, and even though they get blown up several times, they continue to stand in place, then suddenly turn around and make their slow way toward the window, where they jump out of and fly away, save for the human zombies, whom just fall and smash into a pool of gooey matter on the rocks below, then reforming quickly and walking away.

White zombie wolves suddenly attack those zombies that fall, and take them away from the architecture while their brethren continue to patrol the area.

Even after her toys have just been sent away by someone other than herself, the blonde vampire remains where she is, grinning at the glaring girl standing at the entrance, then suddenly hisses "welcome, Miss Reporter girl. Are you here to interview me again, teach me Japanese, or perhaps... something else?"

* * *

><p>Aya remains where she is, glaring furiously with her glowing eyes at the vampire on the throne who's grinning so casually, and raises her camera to her chest as she prepares to pounce the little brat.<p>

Flandre's lips shape a perfect circle as she mockingly covers her mouth as though in shock, and in a mocking tone says "my, you don't look so surprised of seeing me here, all the way up in the high chair, commanding my many toys to hurl you into hell."

"It was so much fun watching you two go through all that hell. I loved your expressions when you found out the cauldron wasn't back home with onee-chan. Oh, and who can forget those depressed faces you had when that ghost girl told you how **I** kept everyone conscious of their actions, and rendered them unable to act against me. So~ satisfying. Much more fun than being in a room all by my lonesome."

"I already knew it was you after we killed Remilia," coldly and darkly says the tengu.

"The clues were all over both villages. But it was in my room where I saw your name smudged off the wall where my bed once was, but I didn't think on it too much, I only just suspected this much. Orin's story confirmed it for me, though I will admit, she did throw me off for a while."

The blonde giggles playfully as she turns her hips around, as though being tickled all over, then stops and says "that girl was my best friend minion. So loyal, for a cat. She would have killed that eyeball girl sooner if I had told her to."

"**HER NAME IS SATORI!**"

Flandre giggles at the tengu's furious outburst, and mockingly coos "oh, that's right. She had a name."

Aya growls under her breath, getting more furious with every passing second, which causes the vampire girl to grin wider with glee; making that tengu girl angrier; and enjoying every moment of it.

A mixture of rage and fear fills the black-haired girl up; she knows who she is up against, and she knows that if that girl wants her dead, there is nothing the proud tengu can do about it, but still, the way she mocks Satori and her own suffering blinds her with rage, though for now, Shameimaru just snarls and glares.

Flandre clicks her tongue, apparently getting bored of the current conversation, jumps off her throne and stands to its left, then smiles innocently at the tengu reporter, and asks "so, aren't you going to ask me 'why' I did all of this? Don't you want to hear my well-prepared monologue?"

Aya twitches in place as her glowing eyes hide under an ominous shadow, then suddenly roars "**JUST DIE YOU FUCKING BIIIIIIITCH**," as she launches herself head-first against the little blonde.

The young Scarlet's grin becomes a vicious smile, her face becomes excited and expectant, and she opens her arms wide, welcoming the vicious attack heading her way, while loudly saying "cutting right to the action. I LOVE IT!"

* * *

><p>Aya grabs Master Flandre by the neck and grips her tight in an attempt to break her head off, but she only manages to sink her fingers in the girl's tough skin, so she immediately shoots several flashes right in front of the girl's eyes when realizing the extent of her strength.<p>

The blonde grips the tengu's arm while still having that excited and expectant expression, then easily throws the reporter away, and says "I'll still tell you why I did it, all while we play! It's been **BORING** with these zombies who never talk back, so a change is very welcome! I have to admit though, they are awesome toys. I can break them all I want, and they come back again, and again! I LOVE IT!"

Shameimaru spreads her wings and takes flight to avoid crashing face-first against a wall, then takes to the air with a quick swoop upward, and starts shooting danmaku at the blonde.

Flandre stands in place with that vicious smile and unhinged eyes while the varied bullets reach her, lifts an arm, and a shield of light appears all around her as she says "you see, I wanted to prove that fucking Remilia that I could be a good mistress too! I know how to count, I know magic spells she can only DREAM OF, I know how to treat our slaves with **respect**, but she said I was too unstable!** TOO DANGEROUS!**"

Aya growls with frustration, locks ten beams on the Master's face, then shoots them without question.

The vampire simply opens her mouth to welcome the beams into it, waits for all ten to be inside of her, then closes her mouth, smacks her lips, then says "so, as I was saying, I decided that, after Marisa's little experiment thing did such cool things, that I would take this cauldron for myself and rule **EVERYTHING!** As mistress, everyone would be my friend, not just our servants and slaves, but everyone! EVERYONE LOVES ME NOW!"

"**SHUT THE HELL UUUUUP!**" roars the reporter tengu before swooping down straight at the girl at high speeds, and throws a punch right between the little girl's eyes, but The vampire catches her easily before the fist reaches her.

She grips the bird girl's arm so tight, the reporter yelps in pain, then she grabs her ample chest and squeezes her hard enough to make the crow tengu scream out in pain, then notices how the pained tengu starts shooting several desperate flashes at her face with her free hand, and smiles sinisterly.

Master Flandre coos and giggles while looking at her catch's pained face, how her tired eyes become lost in a sea of humbling pain, then softly says "ah-ah-ah~ Flashes won't do you any good. You see, I never really transformed. I, too, drank a bit of that stuff when nobody was looking. I only look like this because I want to."

Aya starts to whimper as the skin on her arm and breast starts turning purple, then the blonde vampire swiftly releases her and grips her again with both hands by the neck, swings her around several time, pushing her forehead against the rug with momentum, then throws her away toward the wall, giggling like an innocent child having the time of her life while doing so.

After the crow girl crashes against the impossibly hard wall that ends up breaking her nose on impact, the little girl continues "I will show that insufferable bitch! I will show** the ENTIRE WORLD! Flandre Scarlet is better than all! I STAND ABOVE THE UNIVERSE! ALL SHALL KNEEL BEFORE ME and REVERE ME AS A GOD! I WILL NEVER BE ALONE AGAIN, ONEE-CHAN!**"

Aya manages to stand up, even as tired as she is feeling, then rearranges her nose back to its place, rubs as much of the blood from her lips and chin as she can, but it keeps pouring out of her broken, swollen nose, and though as dizzyingly in pain as she is, she remains on her feet and pants as she recovers.

She looks at the girl next to the throne with disgust, and then speaks through breaths "you. are just. a sick. little. power hung-hungry BITCH!"

Her nose starts to recover, while Flandre seems to react to that insult with a raised eyebrow and a narrowed eye, then Aya continues between smaller breaths "just like those. retarded, cli-clichéd villains. in the. children's books. You're just. looking for excuses. to justify your actions."

The little girl pouts, threateningly lifts her wings, points at the shirtless girl, and angrily shouts "who the **FUCK** do you think you are, comparing me to those pathetic mongrels, poop-faced peasant? I am far beyond the level of those villain wannabes in the books! I am also far more beautiful and frightening than any of them will ever be! Plus, I have a LEGION OF FRIENDS THAT CAN'T BREAK, EVER!"

Feeling a little stronger, Shameimaru raises her wings equally threateningly, aims her hateful glowing eyes at the little girl, then darkly says "you little piece of shit. You are as pathetic as the rest of them. You could be better though. Just step down and let me spill that gods-forsaken cauldron."

Flandre roars with rage, shoots scarlet orbs at Aya with all her might, forcing the winged girl to dodge for dear life, and then throws herself after said reporter while shouting "you're just trying to **TRICK ME!** You want the cauldron for yourself, but there can only be **ONE MASTER**, and THAT! IS! **ME!** I don't care if those zombies and that Oni think you are master! **I AM THE MASTER, NOT YOU!**"

The two girls lock hands upon the blonde's crash, and the crow girl finds herself struggling greatly against the vampire girl's strength, though she manages to match that girl's insane strength, saving herself from what could have been the killing bash, and thinks "_the oni? Does she mean Suika? I did find it weird she'd just reveal the elevator mechanism like that_."

As she pushes the grunting blonde, she thinks "_dammit, now it's not the time to think about that, I have to deal with this vampire! Flashes and beams are completely useless against her, danmaku can slow her down, and physical attacks just backfire. There's gotta be SOMETHING I can do to fight this little bitch!_"

Flandre nails a hard knee on Aya's stomach, forcing all the air out of her system, then proceeds to throw her away, but that crow tengu never lets her go of her hands, and uses the momentum of the rebound of the attempted throw, pulls herself forward, then bashes her skull on the blonde girl's face, and sinks a very hard kick on her little stomach, which causes her to cough and weaken a bit.

The shirtless reporter takes the chance to pull the girl and throw her back toward the cauldron with all her might, hoping to spill it with her body, but the cunning girl flaps her new wings and flies over said cauldron with ease.

What she did not predict was a tornado trap by the tengu, which moved fast enough to catch her from behind while she tried to recover, and while spinning in mid air, she shouts "get me the fuck out of here! Get me out before I make you go kyuun!"

The tengu girl pockets the digital camera and starts hitting herself on the temples, while thinking "_she's going to kill me if this keeps up! There's got to be something I can do, but what! How can I hope to beat this bitch?_"

And that's when her memory jolts, and she remembers being in Nitori's home, where the kappa hands over her old camera and says "_I can't work on this. The spirits inside would eat me, so save them for an enemy, **OTHER** than Cold Death, that cannot die with flashes._"

Flandre breaks free from the tornado with a sudden burst of energy, and shouts "I am going to KILL you, you sick bitch!" while Aya quickly reaches into her right pocket, and pulls her storage cube and digital camera out.

The vampire girl growls furiously after landing on the ground, twists her body to glare at her enemy, then kicks off the floor after her.

Meanwhile, the winged girl rapidly presses the button on the cube to activate it, tosses the new camera inside, sticks her hand inside, and then pulls her trusty old camera instead.

She only has a few seconds before that little Scarlet connects a very vicious claw to her face, so with the cube still on her hand, she lifts her camera, aims it at the Master, then clicks the shutter.

A hooded, translucent green wailing male spirit with a bloodied sword flies right out of the camera's lens, takes the vampire by surprise and captures her, then starts to wail louder and louder as he pushes her away and envelops her in a green mist.

Flandre looks around herself with a horrified face after realizing she's unable to move, then all of a sudden begins to scream "**NOOOOOOOOOOO! NO, GET AWAY! N-NO, NOT THERE! M-MAH-MOOOOOOOOOOOOTHEEEEEEERRRRR!**"

She drops on the floor and the spirit flies away with a most satisfied smile under his hood, while the young Scarlet lies on her stomach on the ground, holding her chest and stomach, sweating profusely, and looking around to the right as though disoriented.

* * *

><p>The little Scarlet tries to stumble on to her feet, but falls hard on her back and covers her eyes with her hands while breathing hard through her mouth, then mumbles "what... what did she do to me, that bitch?"<p>

"Scarlet girl, we can end this right now," calls Aya from the back of the room, knowing well that she is too far away from that cauldron to knock it safely, while Flandre is so close to it.

"Step down and let me knock that cauldron! LET ME RESTORE OUR HOMES, FLANDRE! Or suffer more at **my** capable hands!"

The little Master struggles as she pushes herself up, and halfway through, she shouts "got to hell! You are going to pay, you hear me!"

She gets on her feet, still shaking from that last attack, points at the tengu girl, then her eyes glow bright red, same as the crow girl's and shouts "**I'll kill you! I'll kill you slowly and painfully! I'll rip your wings and stuff them up yours! I'LL RAKE YOUR HEART WITH MY TEETH BEFORE SUCKING OUT ALL YOUR BLOOD!**"

The little blonde rushes toward the reporter in a blind fit of rage, thinking only on fulfilling her promises to the girl before her.

"WRONG ANSWER!" angrily shouts Aya as she aims her old camera at the rushing monster girl, and then clicks the shutter without hesitation.

Flandre is only halfway to reaching Aya when she gasps at the sight of another green translucent spirit flying out of that camera, this one a faceless female with her snake-like hair waving around her head, large fangs on her smiling mouth, and dangerous-looking, large claws on her delicate-looking hands.

The vampire tries to stop with all her might before that ghost comes close, but it's too late, and all the whimpering in the world won't save her from the maddening waling and seemingly painful claws attacking both her psyche and body.

Though she has no actual damage, she feels as though she's just been skewered alive, the evidence on her distant eyes looking nowhere in particular, then the spirit seems to embrace her and bite her on the cheek, and that's when she screams that bloody scream that is currently making Aya Shameimaru smile sinisterly, as though she is enjoying every second of Flandre's torture.

The little girl starts a desperate attempt of blocking her chest, her stomach and her nether region, but forgets to close her gaping mouth or cover her ears, and the wailing spirit takes these opening and begins to enter them in the form of a mist.

The blonde girl remains stiff as she lands on her feet on the ground, her body is surrounded by that greenish mist that keeps entering her body through her mouth and ears, then suddenly embraces her own body and desperately screams "**NOOOOOOOOOOOO! ONEE-CHAN! ONEE-CHAN, I AM SO SORRY! MAMA! PAPAAAAAAAAAAAA!**"

The reporter smiles vilely as she watches that little hateful girl squirm on the ground and drool as she screams while that spirit does whatever she is doing to the hated Master.

Flandre has finally screams so much she has run out of breath, she stands on the tip of her feet as her body stiffens further, then she falls face-down on the floor, where she starts to breathe hard through her mouth and convulses, while the spirit exits through her mouth and ears.

The greenish ghost woman leaves, looking quite satisfied while licking something out of her claws, then goes through the walls to the outside, apparently following after her other spirit friend.

Meanwhile, Aya casually walks toward the fallen vampire lying on the ground and sweating like some human who's just done a lot of strenuous exercise, and in a dark mocking tone of voice, she says "does it feel good for you? Well... it felt good for me."

She bends her knees in front of the vampire's head, places her hand on her blonde head, pushes her face down on the rug as hard as she can, and furiously says "how did you like it? Being **TORTURED** until your mind and body broke, being unable to do **ANYTHING** about it, except take it on and keep going!"

The tengu girl grips the weakened Master by her hair, pulls her face up to gaze at those broken and empty eyes of hers, and furiously shouts "**tell me how much you liked it! Tell me it felt good for you! No? WELL NEITHER DID SATORI AND ME LIKED YOUR FUCKING, DERANGED WORLD AND YOUR SICK GAME!**"

"We saw friends and family trying to EAT us alive, all because of your sickening game, just because you were lonely and wanted the world to suffer! Well **YOU SUFFER SOME MORE! YOU DESERVE IT!**"

She punches Flandre's face as hard as she can with her camera on hand, and shouts "oh, but I'm not done with you! I'm going to TORTURE YOU MYSELF! Then I'll go and torture Marisa for starting this whole SHIT! Then-"

The vampire suddenly swings her right arm and lands a solid punch on Aya's ribs, breaking three in one strike, and forcing her attacker to back away.

The little blonde then starts to cry as she gets up, hugging herself while shouting "you SIIIIIIICK! **YOU! ARE! SIIIIICK!** I will **BREAK YOU!**"

She raises her right hand, aims it at the grunting tengu stumbling around with empty eyes, then clenches her fist, and gasps when nothing happens.

She stares puzzled at her own hand, looks confused at the tengu reporter, then lifts her hand again and tries to find the girl's eye, but she can't.

"Wh-what? Where is it? Where is your eye? WHY CAN'T I BREAK YOU?"

Aya smiles at the confused vampire after feeling a little better, then chuckles, though grunts when her lungs push her broken ribs, then, with some effort, grunts "so that's your mutation. You can only make zombies explode. Hahaha- AUGH! Gah! Th-that's fine! That means I have a chance! I just need to-"

The tengu reporter struggles as she lifts her trusty camera and aims the lens at Flandre, but it disappears from her hand, and ends up bouncing away to the room's entrance, but before she can chase after it, the Master grabs her by the neck, headbutts her so hard her tengu skull makes a cracking sound, then the vampire glares ominously into those dazed, still-glowing eyes of her hated attacker.

* * *

><p>Before she knows what's next, Shameimaru is feeling intense pain on her left knee, caused by a brutal kick from Flandre.<p>

She doesn't fall when her leg fails her, because the blonde vampire still has her by the neck, and smiles ominously vilely, giggles "you're going to die no-ho-how~," then punches the reporter thrice on the left cheek.

The black-haired girl defiantly grabs the Master's right wrist, the insane girl grins widely, then suddenly rushes to the wall and smashes the back of Aya's head against it.

"Not enough," murmurs Flandre, looking around the room for something, then stops when looking at the ceiling, and says "no, you have to suffer for what you did to me. You will suffer, and suffer, and suffer some more, until I decide to kill you."

She takes flight, placing the broken, bleeding tengu in front of herself, then breaks through the seemingly endless layers of the roof with the back of her body, and once they are outside, about twenty feet above the castle, she turns the reporter around and says "look at how magnificent my castle is. It's greater than my sister's mansion, wouldn't you agree?"

Shameimaru is currently blinded by the pain going form the back of her bleeding head to the tip of her limp foot, but she can hear as the insane blonde hisses "it's bigger than sister's! And I protected it well too."

She forces the limp head of the tengu to face one of the towers absorbing the green bolts from the vile clouds, and says "those bolts feed my wonderful castle with energy, that energy is used to power the magical circles around the outer walls, those circles activate the traps and protections, both inside and out of my castle, and all of this I did by watching Patchy perform her silly experiments, and reading some books while I was bored out of my mind."

She turns Aya around again and sees that weak, broken face, those empty eyes staring at nowhere, all that blood staining her neck, back and bra, and the limp limbs and wings hanging around her body.

Flandre smiles and giggles playfully at the sight of the reporter girl, then asks "well? Isn't my castle better than Remilia onee-chan's? Do you think that it will impress her? **Do you think that will get her to notice me? To play with me? TO KNOW THAT I AM ALIVE, THAT I LOVE HER?**"

Aya can only moan and whimper pathetically as a response, moves her empty eyes toward the girl, moans some more, then the blonde screams "**WELL WHO ASKED YOU, YOU USELESS BIRD?**" then throws that black-haired girl back down to the main arena with all her might, and quickly gives chase.

The proud and dying crow tengu feels as she falls helplessly toward the castle while facing the sky, and tries to flap her wings, but what will power is keeping her conscious isn't enough for her to move a finger, and can only wait and stare as that insane vampire chases after her with an expectantly vicious smile on her eager face.

The first impact is hard, and breaks the momentum of Aya's fall when she bounces off the hard roof, but the blonde Master skinks her knees into the tengu's rebounded stomach and forces her through the rest of the roof after making her spit out blood, mixed with what little food she had left in her stomach.

She can feel her lower back cracking after she lands so hard on her butt and bounces back up, but before she has time to think on that, she feels her back smashing hard against that solid wall of that square arena, along with her left wing snapping in three different places at once.

Her consciousness starts to fade slowly as she begins to relax, then Flandre's silent strike finishes off whatever willpower she had left.

Those two solid knees on her shattered ribs send her consciousness flying to another dimension, where all that pain, all her frustration, all has vanished.

Aya opens her eyes and finds herself back at the Youkai Forest, resting her back against a smooth tree, where a few beams of warm sunlight reach her face through its leaves, warming her body just right for a pleasant nap.

She doesn't know it, but outside that other dimension, Flandre is still breaking her body, and obviously enjoying herself while she does.

This causes that peaceful, spiritual world to catch fire, and the peace around her is obliterated by the songs of war.

Men screaming, youkai roaring, flesh being broken by blades, and then there are her kin, cheering on as they push the assaulters away from the mountain.

She tries to move her legs and stand, but finds herself unable to do anything other than move her neck, and that's when she spots Commander Tenma to her left, gesturing her to move while saying "**COME ON! WE ALMOST GOT THEM AYA! IF YOU CAN STILL FIGHT, THEN COME WITH US!**"

She looks at her arms, her legs and her torso, and notices the several gashes on each.

Her silver armor has been broken off, leaving her skin bare, and her wounds dangerously exposed, yet she feels the urge to fight.

The proud tengu is about to give up after realizing her strength is gone, and then she looks up and finds Satori standing right in front of her, and gasps at the horrible sight before her.

The left side of the mind-reader's face is completely rotten, down to the blackened bones, her right eye still has that beautiful purple iris the tengu remembers, but the left one looks dull, empty and it's a bit grey.

Her third eye looks like it was recently popped, and from inside that orifice crawl countless, ring-bodied larvae that crawl away from her and the reporter after falling off, and her body, her skin, all seems to be rotten to the point that no muscles exist inside of her.

Yet she stands firm, staring sternly at her friend before saying "up! Aya-chan, you have to get up this instant!"

The tengu girl only stares up, unable to think of anything to say, so the girl shouts "SHE'S DESTROYING YOUR BODY! Aya-chan, please, she's going to kill you for good if this keeps up! You have to stand! You have to fight, or everything we worked so hard for will be in vain! My death will have been A WASTE! I will become her slave too, and even if I escape someday... you won't be there to greet me, ever again."

Shameimaru's eyes open wide, yelps "No! Satori!", then somehow kicks herself back on her feet, and then realizes she's on her own again.

Her wounds have sealed, the blood has dried, her armor is restored, then she can hear a tengu shouting "JUST A LITTLE MORE! WE NEED A LITTLE MORE POWER! DRIVE THE ENEMY AWAY!"

Aya suddenly looks at her hand, and notices she holds her current maple-leaf fan on her hands, and it's glowing with power.

She looks toward the sources of the voices, glowers, and then says to herself "the enemy. I must defeat the enemy, for Satori-chan's sake! She sacrificed herself so that I may win! I. MUST! **WIN!**"

Back in the real world, Flandre sits on the stomach of the tengu girl's ruined body, and smiles at the sight of that horrible bruised skin stained with blood all over, grips her chest and presses her hand against a swollen spot on the girl's ribs, and whispers "aren't you gonna scream and whimper so deliciously, like before?"

She waits a few seconds before releasing the girl, sighs, and then says "shit, I really did break her. She would have made a strong zombie friend for me. Oh well."

She suddenly finds her neck caught in a surprisingly strong grip, stronger than herself, and she flails around in a very desperate attempt to escape.

The skin on her neck breaks and she begins to bleed, then she looks at Aya's empty left eye and blown right eye socket, gasps with fright, but before she can scream, that reporter pulls her closer, viciously bites her neck, making her cry out with despair as her blood is sucked out by force, kicks the little blonde on the ribs hard enough to break one and send that vampire flying away to the other side of the arena, fifty feet away from the left wall.

Shameimaru stands on her feet, though seems to be moving on will alone, takes her storage cube from her pocket, presses the button on it and puts her hand inside, all while aiming that bloodied eye at the Master.

She pulls the very last bottle of divine water, unscrews the cap with a quick twist from her wrist, neck and teeth, and immediately drinks the contents.

Aya's entire body restores itself to perfection before the blonde vampire's terrified eyes, she tosses the storage cube and empty water bottle away, then sinisterly says "the enemy... must die. Nobody is left alive. If one lives, he will kill you. Shameimaru Aya, young and proud tengu warrior, defend your home from the enemy without mercy."

"What the hell are you talking about, you sick-OOOMPH!"

The glowing-eyed tengu has cut the vampire's question with an unseen uppercut to the stomach, and before long, grabs the little Scarlet by the base of her wings so tight, they crunch out loud, then pushes the blonde to the ground with such force, the girl feels as though her lungs are about to explode.

Aya lets her wings go to kick Master Flandre on the side of her stomach so hard, that it lifts her up, follows with a linked fist smash to the head that makes her turn upside-down while still in mid-air, then the tengu grabs her left thigh, and kicks her downward on the base of that thigh, breaking it off without mercy.

The blonde only has enough time to scream for a second before she has the warrior tengu's hand stuffed in her mouth, and feels those steel-like nails sinking hard into the soft skin under her tongue, but before that skin breaks, she is tossed to the air, where said tengu shoots a tornado without the need of her fan.

Trapped inside the whirlwind, Flandre tries to think of a way to escape, but it's the first time she's met with someone, or some**thing** stronger than her, and she's frightened, rendering her unable to think straight.

Aya takes her maple fan on hand and swings it toward the trapped vampire, and turns a simple wind-trap, into a bladed death-trap.

The young Scarlet screams and cries out for her big sister while her tough skin is easily cut by that warrior's wind blades, and then a break.

The tornado stops and she falls on the ground. She ignores the maddening pain from her leg and tries to crawl away from her attacker, breathing hard through her mouth and whimpering like a terrified human child.

She can't believe she's managed to crawl away from that monstrous woman, but as she does, her heart fills with more fear than she's ever felt before when she notices her own blood is starting to pour down her right eye, forcing her to close it, then she takes notice of all the cuts on her arms, legs, a stinging pain on her neck, and that's when she notices the winged monster woman has turned her back.

She desperately tries to shoot her danmaku, or maybe summon her rod, but she's too scared to even keep still long enough to try something effective, then Aya turns to face her again.

The little blonde gasps and whimpers, yet puts up a brave front and stands up, then points at that deranged woman, and nervously shouts "you-YOU CAN'T BEAT ME! YOU ARE WEAK! I BROKE YOU!"

Shameimaru remains staring at her with a cold, uncaring, dark look in her glowing red eyes, then lifts her camera and aims it at the little girl.

"**NOOOOOOO**," cries Flandre as she quickly flies toward the tengu, hoping to reach her before she releases another one of those ghosts.

She's in reach. All she has to do is knock that camera off the bad woman's hands, but "**OOOMPH!**" a quick and hard kick to the stomach stops her in mid-air.

The semi-naked warrior girl grips the falling girl by the back of the neck, smashes the vampire's lower body on the ground repeatedly as she walks her toward the wall, making sure to punish that broken leg every time, then stops, pulls the girl closer to her eyes, and darkly says "you tried to take my home, you hurt my friends, Satori-chan, tried to kill me, but you failed! **Failed by my hands!**"

"As long as I am alive, neither you, nor your pathetic lackeys will ever set foot in my home, ever again!"

Tears of fear start to flow out of Flandre's eyes as that woman's cold darkness consumes her will.

Despair takes her very being, her tears start to flow uncontrollably, but before she can even try to apologize, that tengu smashes her head against the wall repeatedly.

The punishment doesn't stop, no matter how much Flandre wants it all to end, her skull cracks along with the insanely strong wall, blood begins to stain her face and hair some more, and just like that, she feels herself flying backward until her head strikes something solid, and made out of metal.

Before she can realize she's right next to that cauldron, two more wailing female and a male spirits surround her, her heart starts to feel as though it's going to break out of her ribs by force, then suddenly, as her body starts to rise to the air on its own, she screams "**MAMAAAAAAAAA! PAPAAAAAAA! REMILIAAAAAA! ONEE-CHAN, HEEEEEEEEEELP!**"

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes past, and the spirits leave Flandre's limp body on the ground next to the hated cauldron, then leave through the hole on the roof, all with satisfied looks on their faces.<p>

That cauldron is now free for whoever wants to claim it, now that the Master is out of commission, breathing erratically through her mouth, whimpering with ever expelled breath, and twisting what parts of body she can move, as though trying to fight with some unseen force.

Aya remains standing, just as she was, on that very spot where she shot those spirits from.

Her eyes glow as she stares at Flandre, her unkempt hair stands on its ends, the feathers on her wings seem to puff up threateningly, and after waiting for so long, she finally moves.

Every step she takes toward the cauldron causes an echo to fill the now silent room, and a memory of a time with Satori flashes before her very eyes.

The day they met at the Hakurei Shrine, the night they woke up at Kourindou after the beating from Reimu, they day they met with Kogasa and went to Eientei, those days at the village, before and after Kogasa was turned before their very eyes...

She pauses for a moment and thinks "_what happened? Where am I? Wh-where are the other tengu?_"

She looks around for a moment, then continues her walk toward the cauldron, remembering herself and Satori escaping Byakuren's flying ship, failing against Cirno, and ending up in Nitori's house, being rescued by zombie wolves when escaping the tengu village, being blown up to heaven by divine powers from two fading goddesses, crying out of frustration after finding out the cauldron was not in the Scarlet Devil Mansion...

The tengu stops again, looks at her arms and her body, and thinks "_my armor broke off. Wait, what the hell am I wearing? Pink? And it only covers my breasts? How lewd. Commander Tenma will have my head for this... but I kinda like these._"

She resumes her walk and remembers Satori and herself running through an underground city, fighting a giant worm-shaped Yuyuko at the Netherworld, fighting against a giant electric blob, then breaking apart a goddess in Makai, fighting Yukari alongside Marisa at the rotting flower fields, entering a massive castle, fighting strong monsters, old friends, and finally, watching Satori die before her eyes once more.

Aya now stands right in front of Alice's cauldron, the thing that's been making their lives a complete misery for so long, and then suddenly begins to smile sinisterly while looking inside of it.

Her eyes glow more intensely as her vile smile becomes darker, then she starts to chuckle, progresses to laughing, then says "sure, why not?"

Shameimaru leans closer to it, allowing those vile clouds to caress her face, she breathes the expelled clouds in contently, then says "so much power. All this power! I... I could keep the enemy away! I'd make Commander Tenma proud! With this, all our fallen allies will rise again, and follow my every command!"

She grabs hold of the edges of the black metal bowl, cackles while gripping it tight, then loudly declares "nobody would ever dare to cross me! Nobody would ever DARE touch **MY** Satori-chan! I would keep her **SAFE**, and rule the tengu with an iron fist! Those human and youkai won't even know what hit them!"

"_No, Aya-chan, please! Don't fall for its empty promises! Spill it! Please, do it now!_"

Satori's voice echoes over and over in the tengu's mind, but she fails to hear it as she continues "yes, yes! I'll need a whole army to defend the mountain! An undead army! They are undead, so they can't die! They will be perfect! Everyone will know of my greatness, my beauty, and FEAR ME!"

Satori's voice slowly fades to the back of Aya's mind, while the tengu cackles and continues to elaborate on her greatness by commanding an undead army, and instead of spilling that hateful cauldron, she breathes in more of its rusty clouds, then smiles at nobody in particular while sighing contently.

* * *

><p>Aya now sits on the throne once occupied by the lump of a crying mess that is Flandre, but even as she sits there with that unfriendly face and glowing eyes, something seems to bug her at the back of her head.<p>

She looks toward the cauldron with disdain, then all of a sudden hears a familiar voice call for her in her head, and asks "Reimu? Reimu Hakurei, is that you?"

The mentioning of that name gives her a sudden jolt on her head, yet she remains seated while looking at that vile liquid inside that large metal bowl.

"_Aya, what the hell is your problem? Spill that thing so that I can go home and drink some tea!_"

The reporter gasps and jumps off her chair when Reimu's voice sounds so loud and clear inside her head, then she looks around as though in a trance, and says to herself "a spell. The enemy must have placed a spell on..."

A tear suddenly escapes her eye and rolls down her cheek, but before she can dry it off, another familiar voice speaks to her mind.

"_*Sob* Aya-chan, I can't believe you! I thought you wanted our homes back! I thought *sob* you loved the peace of Gensokyo! Why have you done this? *Sob* Why didn't you spill it?_"

"**WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?**"

The tengu suddenly finds herself next to the cauldron again, holding her head while crying without being able to control herself, and says to herself "what's happening to me? What is this? S-Satori-chan, Reimu. You are my friends. Why are you attacking me? What's going on?"

"_They're not attacking you._"

She suddenly finds herself floating in an empty room, void of anything other than a wide white light trying to push back the darkness in the background, and looking at herself in front.

She wears her white shirt with the yellow band with those funny brown leaves imprinted on them, that lovely black skirt, those cute puffs she sometimes hangs on her red tokin, short black socks, and her red geta sandals.

She holds a pen on her right hand and her notepad on the left, and looks disappointed toward her own self, who wears a golden breastplate shaped to fit her beautiful shapely body, a grey skirt with golden plates surrounding it and adorned with red jewels, her tokin looks wide and dull wine colored, and on her right hand she holds three knives, and on her left, her old black feathers fan.

The reporter Aya sighs, then says "you have to spill that thing. We promised Satori-chan and Reimu, and all who asked us to do so that we would. Stop playing this game and bring back our home!"

The warrior Aya raises her wings threateningly, and roars "**NO!** There will be new enemies, and I HAVE to protect both Reimu and Satori-chan from them! I will use the army given to me, and there is nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise!"

The reporter tengu sighs with frustration, drops on her knees, and says "here, I'm begging! This is how far I am willing to go to convince you to spill that thing! Aya, there aren't any enemies now. We defeated the master! Spill that thing so we can have our home back! I miss it, and I know you do too!"

Suddenly, images of a green Gensokyo fill the room, showing the warrior tengu the Tengu Village the way it should be, clean, alive, and hospitable, the Youkai Mountain free from those swamps and full of nature and fairies playing around, and the Hakurei Shrine in spring, were beautiful flowers bloom to please the eyes of all those willing to visit during that time of the year.

The warrior stares at these images without showing much interest, even though she feels excitement over seeing these places restored, and in a cold tone says "this is all very pretty, but you forget, I have to protect Satori-chan and Reimu, all because YOU failed were I succeeded!"

The reporter Aya shakes her head and shouts "but that's not FAIR! We went through hell and I did my part to get us here where we stand! We deserve an outcome that pleases us BOTH, NOT YOU ALONE!"

The warrior Aya rolls her eyes, throws a knife straight at her peaceful self's very throat, and as she gags and falls on an unseen floor, her warrior self coldly says "I know what it is best for us, for Satori and for Reimu. You are just a sissy crybaby who is afraid of showing what she's truly made of. I don't need you. Satori-chan doesn't need you."

That warrior suddenly finds herself with one of her own knives on her throat, while the reporter self struggles to stand while holding her bleeding throat, and says "you are wrong. It is I who doesn't need you. I can be strong enough on my own, and don't forget, **I** am the one that Satori loves. Not you; not your blood thirst!"

The warrior tengu, as pained as she is, rushes toward her reporter self and grips her neck tight, choking herself to the death.

Her peaceful self tries desperately to break free, but nothing she does helps, and so, easily succumbs to the overwhelming strength of her warrior self.

Outside of that world in the tengu's mind, Aya holds her head and moans as though in pain, while her two sides fight it out inside of her.

Little does she know that Flandre is awake, though very weak, and has managed to drag herself to the cauldron, right next to where the crow girl stands, then grips her left ankle and weakly cries "no *sob*! I don't want to go back! I want *sob*, I want to be free of that place! I don't like that hell anymore! Please, let me keep my world! Let me keep my never-breaking friends! I don't want to go back. I don't want to be alone!"

The little girl crying while gripping her ankle infuriates the tengu girl.

She kicks that hand off, kicks the girl on the face, and shouts "**I'm dealing with something more important than your sob-stories! Go bother someone else while you wait to die!**"

"Noooo-ho-ho," cries the blonde vampire, then grips the black-haired girl's ankle again, squeezes it until it snaps in two, and cries "you *sniff* are *sniff* a *sniff* **MEANIEEEEE!**"

Aya cries out when her ankle breaks, and shows no sympathy or love for the crying former Master when she shouts "you BITCH! YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU DARE BREAK MY ANKLE LIKE THAT? I'm gonna TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS!"

She grabs the cauldron's right edge in her rage, and pulls hard with all her might, spilling the whole thing right on top of Flandre's body, making her scream out loud when that liquid starts to burn her clothes and skin.

Before she can curse herself after realizing what she did, the winged tengu feels too dizzy to stand, yet manages to do so, and hops backward on one leg, far away from that liquid spilling form that large black cauldron and turning yellow, then turns around to grab the door handle that nudges her on the hip to escape the room, but falls on her face and remains on the ground, where she waits for that liquid to reach her and torture her, but long before it does, everything turns black.

* * *

><p>"<em>Aya-chan? ...Aya-chan, wake up.<em>"

Sounds from around her slowly wake the tengu up, but it's not until she hears Satori's voice that she starts to moan and move about.

She can feel her limbs, so that's a good start for her, and it appears she's not in pain; another good sign.

She moans again when she moves her left leg and discovers it's fully healed, and whispers "_thank the spirits I'm a youkai,_" then the familiarly sweet voice of her friend says "yes, being a youkai is quite the blessing sometimes, isn't it."

The reporter's eyes almost burst when she opens them so suddenly after hearing Satori's voice for a second time, and the light smile she had on her face vanishes when her vision adjusts to the new, brighter light from the sky, and chokes when she tries to gasp.

The zombies Reimu, Marisa, Nitori, Kogasa, Kaguya, Patchouli, Koakuma, and Akyuu, all stand in a semi-circle around the tengu girl, and stare with worry and confusion.

Aya's pathetic, quick yelp comes with a sudden jump backward as she desperately tries to run away from the zombies in front of her, but falls on her butt and pushes herself away, breathing hard through her mouth and whimpering loudly with every breath taken, then sees her old camera on the ground and tries to crawl toward it while crying "no! It failed! It didn't work!"

She is far too nervous, and by the time she reaches her camera, her hands are too clumsy to hold it straight, and as if in some sort of self defense, she curls up into a ball and hugs herself tightly while whimpering "g-get away. Get away!" and breathing erratically through her mouth.

In her desperation, she manages to shoot a single flash from her camera at herself, though just as well, for she has failed to see one very important detail.

Though all those girls' skins look like pruned, pale, and somewhat slimy, that's about as far as the horrifying looks go.

All the girls' hairs have grown to what they used to be, Koakuma's body has returned to its normal size, Patchouli, though still paler than usual, has regained her human body, and Akyuu is no longer spewing any kind of mist around her.

In fact, she has also failed to notice how all of those girls' eyes have returned to their normal, bright states, though those beautiful eyes do clash with that pruned and thin skin.

Still, Marisa remains looking the same: a bald skeletal zombie with caved-in eyes and disgusting-looking brown skin; and that is not helping the bird girl calm down.

From behind that crowd, Eirin says "it's alright Aya. Calm down," but it is obvious the terrified, whimpering tengu girl isn't listening, until Satori says "it's ok Aya-chan! Look! It's the real us!"

The mind-reader's voice rings right trough the bird-girl's terror and she immediately lifts her face to take notice of all the betterments on the girls' bodies, and then looks at Reimu into those brown eyes, and excitedly asks "Re-Reimu! Y-you're you? You don't want to kill me?"

The shrine maiden closes her eyes as she shakes her head, and in her usual voice, replies "of course not. I mean, I think you're annoying, but I don't want to kill you."

That answer makes the crow tengu crack a quick smile, though quickly frowns lightly when turning her eyes toward the other zombie-like girls in the room, causing Yuka to sigh in frustration and throw her arms in the air, then irritably saying "where the hell is this girl's backbone?"

"Give her some time," begins Nitori, whose eyes show she's her usual sweet self, and then adds "she's been through quite a lot."

Marisa chuckles, smacks Patchouli on the shoulder, and jokingly says "maybe it's in that bloodstain over there by the wall, or maybe at the hole on the roof."

Koakuma gets between the witch and the magician, and angrily says "you are in no position to be joking around."

"Correct. **You** still have to answer for what you did to us," casually adds the purple-haired librarian, doing well in hiding her anger.

The kappa turns her back to the witch and angrily says "I would rather have you keep your mouth shut. Just hearing your voice makes me want to crawl right out of my skin, or rip **yours** off."

"Seriously, what **is** she doing here?" asks Yamame as she descends from the hole on the roof, hanging upside-down by one of her web strings while adding "she should be hung by the ankles and left to dry some more under the sun."

The spider's blonde hair has been fully restored, those disgusting hairy legs and massive abdomen are gone, and although her fangs remain looking long and sharp, her ghostly-pale skin seems fairer than the other girls'.

Kogasa hug-tackles the blonde before she is able to turn around and land, and happily rubs her face against the spider-girl's chest while contently saying "Miss Yamame-san is back! You're ok again! It's all thanks to Miss Aya-san!"

The blonde in the broken brown dress can only smile as she pats the karakasa's head, while Reimu pulls on Marisa's arm, and furiously whispers "you idiot, stay quiet! Pretend that you're not even here!"

Aya looks at Akyuu, who is scribbling on a long scroll with a brush, and says "this amazing experience will be immediately recorded for historical purposes. Miss Shameimaru, you have **GOT **to print the story in your paper as soon as you can!"

The tengu looks around at all the zombie-like girls in the room, stops at Reimu and Marisa, and then suddenly notices Eirin to their right, who says "yes, this is the first effect of the new antidote I made, though it really didn't take full effect until after you spilled that dreaded cauldron. Now all that is left is for th-"

"Wh-where is Satori-chan?" asks the reporter while looking around the girls.

"I heard her! Sh-she spoke to me! Where is she?"

The Lunarian feels incredibly annoyed by that sudden interruption, but she ignores it. After all, it came from the one person in the room deserving greater respect.

She sighs away her frustration, moves to the right, and behind her stands the mind-reader, with her skin looking paler than usual, a hole on the chest of her shirt, which reveals her broken brassiere underneath it, but there is no signs of her ever being a zombie-like creature.

Satori stares tenderly at Aya, who gasps as an overexcited smile conquers her face, but before that semi-naked winged girl is able to move, the satori youkai flies over and hugs her to the floor, holds her tight, and excitedly says "you did it! Aya-chan, you really did it, you naughty, naked girl!"

The tengu can only laugh away while tears of joy escape her eyes, then blubbers when attempting to speak, to which the mind-reading youkai pushes her back, reveals Okuu's cape from inside her right pocket, and almost crying, covers the tengu's upper body up and cries "I know. I'm sorry. It really hurt me to leave you alone, but I'm here now, all thanks to you!"

While those two girls continue to hold each other, ignoring the fact that they are making the other girls inside the room uncomfortable, Eirin sighs and face palms, then says to herself "guess the sun will have to wait a bit."

The cauldron starts to shake, and everyone quickly turn their attention to it, point glowing fingers, talismans, a Hakkero and an arrow at it, then it turns over, revealing Flandre underneath it.

She only has her bloomers and undershirt on, as the rest of her clothes seems to have become a stain on the ground underneath her knees, her skin has become pruned and brown, the skin on her lips has shriveled and is currently stuck on her teeth, and when she rubs her eyes, her side-ponytail falls off.

She looks around the room, notices her hair lying on the ground, then her eyes water up and she loudly bawls "whaaaaaa~ What's going on? Wh-*sob* where's onee-chan! *Hic* Who are you people! Sakuya! Meiliiiing! I'm confused! I wanna go home!"

When she takes notice of Aya on the ground, she stops her crying with a sudden gasp, quickly crawls between Patchouli and Reimu, gets behind Koakuma, and like a frightened child, she exclaims "I'm good! I've been good! Patchy, Koa, save me!"

Shameimaru cannot believe that **that** pathetic creature was the mighty 'Master' that gave her such a hard time, and chuckles softly as she gives the pale mind-reader another hug, making sure she's not just having a wonderful dream.

Eirin rapidly aims her arrow to the sky through the hole on the roof, and shoots it. It takes a blue glow as it speeds up the farther it travels, then pierces the now-harmless clouds and lets some sunshine through.

Taking notice of the subtle message, Reimu chuckles, and loudly declares "girls, if you can fly, go up there and clear those skies! We need the sun to make this antidote REALLY work!"

Aya and Satori are about to stand, but the shrine maiden gestures them to remain where they are, and says "you stay there and take a break. Let **US** handle the rest."

She then turns to face the cowering vampire behind Koakuma's legs, and sternly says "and YOU! Get on your feet and help us! It's the least you can do after all that crap you put us through!"

Flandre knows she doesn't have a choice, especially since her memories of what had happened have returned to her while she was hiding.

"No, Reimu, don't punish her!"

Many surprised eyes turn to the tengu reporter, who ignores all those stares as she says "she was a slave to that damned cauldron as much as you all were hers. Spare her, please."

Marisa takes two steps toward Aya to make a funny remark on how soft she's become, but that very winged girl points at her while staring threateningly, and angrily says "if you're going to blame someone, blame **HER!** She's the one that caused all of this."

All eyes fall on the zombie witch, but before anybody else does anything, Reimu grabs her friend by the bony shoulder, forcefully pulls her back, and says "then she'll fly all over Gensokyo and make **sure** not a single one of those clouds remain!"

After a quick moment of silence, all the girls, save for Aya, Satori and Flandre, take flight toward the sky, going through that hole on the roof, leaving those three girls staring at each other.

The blonde vampire looks confused, though still scared, and although she wants to ask why the crow tengu decided to spare her, she prefers to keep quiet, and hide under the shade, in case the sun comes in too harshly.

Outside, after the girls reach their side of the sky and begin showering the clouds with danmaku; fairies, youkai, and deformed monsters and mutants from all over Gensokyo take flight toward the sky to mimic the work being done on the clouds above the large castle.

* * *

><p>The beams of the sun break through the openings of those clouds like furious streams, making short work of the looming virus that remains on the dry ground, slimy rivers and dead plants.<p>

Its work is not fast, but as things are looking, it appears as though Gensokyo could still return to normal, though places like the Youkai Mountain appear like they will never be the same.

The mountain itself roars when the cleansing rays from the sun slowly cleans it of all that pollution, but roaring as it is, it also reveals itself, and starts thrashing about, throwing rocks all over and around itself, threatening the Misty Lake and Scarlet Devil Mansion of imminent destruction.

Meanwhile, those above the land opening holes on those dark clouds fear the sunrays will make short work of them, but gladly sacrifice themselves to restore their precious home.

They all soon discover, though, that the rays of the sun sting a little more than they should, but they don't kill them, and Byakuren sighs with relief as she looks down to the temple, and shouts "it's alright! It's a spring sun! It won't kill us!"

Shou and Nazrin are the first to peek their heads from the ruins of the broken Palanquin, and then walk out to the sun on their separate bodies, though still mutated and looking like decaying zombies.

Nue, who has recovered her limbs, nervously peeks her head out of the temple's main doors, looks around, then sighs and, with her monster voice, gurgles "phewww. The jiang-shi is gone now."

Over at Eientei, the monstrous Reisen cries while the impish Tewi tries to comfort her, but after the sunrays shine down on the two rabbits, and they both look up at the image of Kaguya, fully restored to her normal self, they both smile, and the green-skinned rabbit exclaims "the princess is alive! That means Eirin must be alive to! We can fix you, Udonge!"

At the Forest of Magic, Alice reaches her home, free from those guts she was using as body ornaments, and would love nothing more than to enter it and hide her hideous self from the world, but the ward left behind by Aya and Satori is still effective, and every time she tries touching the doorknob, she's given a quick jolt, and is forced to jump back to avoid getting fried.

She sighs, her voice sounds screechy and nasally, but as embarrassing as it sounds, her rage takes over and she shouts "Marisa, you goddamned **BIIIIIIIIITCH!** I'm going to KILL you for this!"

All over Gensokyo, the mutated residents are starting to come out of hiding, and although they disgust each other greatly, they begin to try and communicate, asking each other if they are truly free.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Aya has used Okuu's cape to make a make-shift parasol for Flandre, using a piece of cloth from the vampire's bloomers to cover the hole on the cape's top, and the black rod the little girl summoned on the tengu's request.

"Here you go," softly says the winged girl as she hands over the odd parasol to the little blonde, who stares at her with both concern and fright, and asks "are you sure about this, anee-san? You'll be naked again."

The crow tengu clicks her tongue with annoyance, and mumbles "please don't call me that," then smiles as she forces a chuckle, and says "yes, it's alright. I don't really care about this anymore. Besides..."

She turns her body and looks out the hole on the roof, then sees Remilia swooping around with her own parasol held tight, and says "you have to go to your sister now, and explain to her what happened."

A quick jolt of fright pulses from the little girl's heart, but she sighs to manage to calm herself, if only a bit, and frightfully says "alright, but I know she's going to be mad."

Aya places her hand on the vampire's head, and with a neutral face, she softly says "I would be mad too, but I know what you went through. Only you and I can understand what that cauldron thing did to us."

She looks toward the door, a sense of expectancy fills her when she thinks that Satori is waiting for her on the other side, and softly continues "but even so, you have to pay for what you did, but I will try to do what I can so whatever punishment you get is lessened."

Flandre smiles as she looks up at her new friend, giggles as she nods, then quickly takes off, waves goodbye before going through that large hole she made with the tengu's own body, and quickly joins with Remilia in the sky.

Shameimaru looks up to watch the Scarlet sisters' reunion, which doesn't last too long, and the two vampires stare down at the reporter with neutral faces before flying away.

For a second, the tengu girl thinks she sees the monstrous Remilia with those black worm-infested wings under a brown sky, but shakes her head and the image quickly returns to reality.

She decides to ignore this when the black door to Satori presents itself to her eyes again, so she quickly rushes to it, and opens it without hesitation.

The corridor looks brighter, now that the rays from the sun enter through the tiny windows to the left and right of the stairs, which were almost invisible before due to the darkness from outside.

Aya walks down those stairs in hopes of catching the mind-reader sleeping on the bed in that long room, but when she finds said bed remains undisturbed, she feels a small tug on her heart, and quickly heads to the next door.

Before she opens it, she can hear three crying voices on the other side, then quickly recognizes Orin when she cries "I'm so sorry, Satori-sama! I love you, Satori-sama! I would never say those things to you!"

The tengu girl opens the door when Okuu begins to cry "Satori is too good to Okuu! I could never allow her to get hurt, but I almost hurt her! I'm bad! I am bad to Satori-sama!"

The semi-naked girl's eyes become pained as she watches those three girls kneeling on the platform where that fake cauldron was, then quickly takes notice of all three being completely cured, and thinks "_Eirin works fast_."

She watches as the purple-haired girl coos at her pets and comforts them by saying "there, there. It's alright. Everything is alright now. I don't hate any of you for being forced to follow orders. I love you, my dear girls."

Aya lowers her head, smiles sadly at the sight before her, and then slowly begins to close the door.

Satori turns around and looks at her dear tengu friend with puffy red eyes, from all the crying, then smiles sweetly, gestures her head toward the group, and says "come here Aya-chan. Please join us."

Orin takes notice of the tengu, gulps to try to hide her tears and make herself look tougher than the other two, and casually says "sis, please don't go! That would hurt Satori-sama very much."

Okuu lifts her head, obviously feeling absolutely no shame of her crying face covered in tears and boogers, and lifts her wings in a welcoming manner, and asks "Satori's new friend stays, yes? She won't go?"

Even with those two girls welcoming her to the group, it's the mind-reader's face she can see more brightly, and as if in a happy trance, she chuckles softly, walks over to the girls at the platform, then kneels between the kasha and hell raven so that she's looking at her dear friend directly.

She soon extends her arms and wings, wraps the other girls up with those soft, black wings of hers, while wrapping her hands around Satori, who giggles contently, sniffles, then says "that's right. Aya-chan is now part of our family, right girls?"

Even though Okuu and Orin squeeze both girls tight, the satori and the tengu can't seem to feel their presence as much as each other's, and for the first time, the girls share a warm embrace not meant to comfort each other from the stress of fighting undead monsters, but for something more soothing and warm.

They both seem to drift away together as the soothing sensation of each other's warmth fill them, and though noticing they aren't in the loop of those two girls, the cat girl and raven continue holding the two heroines, enjoying the wonderfully soothing warmth emanating from them both.

* * *

><p>Three days have come and gone, and although Gensokyo is far from beginning its full recovery, thanks to the efforts from Yuka and Lily White, whom, of course, have been cured with Eirin's antidote, some trees and flowers near the Myouren Temple, the Hakurei Shrine, and the Garden of the Sun have begun to rise.<p>

They've been getting help from the decaying zombie fairies, and the flower master has been working them to the bone, literally, but they are working hard nonetheless, and none seem to want to stop restoring their homes until it looks just like it used to.

At the Human Village, the humans, whom without the immortality effects of the cauldron active are in danger of becoming extinct, but Eirin, Reisen, Tewi, Keine and even Kaguya and Mokou, have worked for two days straight in order to inject the antidote to every single one of them, and save them.

Having finished with the last girl, a small brunette in a lime-green kimono that giggles as she reunites with her family after who knows how long, Reisen sighs with relief and comments "well done Master and Tewi. Everyone in this sector has been cured.

Eirin and Tewi stand next to a small cauldron that sits on a bonfire, where they are mixing the ingredients for the antidote, stop and wipe their sweating foreheads, and while the rabbit youkai flips her thumbs up, the pharmacist says "excellent. And we have more than enough for the rest of the village now."

"That won't be needed," loudly says Keine, before she, Mokou and Kaguya fly to the trio and land between the girls, then continues "Mokou and Kaguya took care of the east and western areas, and I took care of the north and central area."

"So, their numbers diminished after all," coldly comments Eirin, causing some heads to lower quietly, then the princess cheers up, snaps her finger, and says "ah, but the number of friendly youkai has increased. There's that night sparrow, the bug girl, the dark girl, the ice fairy..."

The lavender-haired human phoenix rubs her chin while looking to the sky, as though in deep thought, and continues for her rival "that's right. For some reason, the white wolves from the mountain moved here, and have been patrolling the parameters of the entire village. Their leader had a feather from the tengu around its ears, so I let them be."

The history teacher nods twice, and then says "yes, well, these people will need the extra protection. Humans are too fragile, and now more so. We now have orphans, lost some children, only a handful of elders survived, and most of the young ones have become very... overprotective of themselves."

Eirin dusts her hands and coldly says "well, we cured those that we could; now it is up to them to do the rest."

Keine scowls at the heartless Lunarian and crosses her arms under her chest while saying "jeez, you don't have to be so cold about it! It wasn't THEIR fault all of those things happened anyway!"

"**A human DID cause this!**" barks Reisen, her face turning feral and her eyes glowing as her body trembles with fury, then adds "**it was all thanks to that Marisa that all of this happened in the first place!**"

Ignoring her student, Eirin starts adding a blue liquid into the light-blue antidote, and casually says "relax Udonge. Screaming about things like that won't help. Besides, you have to help me with the rain for the rest of the youkai."

"The rain?" asks the confused Mokou, and then the Lunarian Pharmacist explains while working on the medicine.

"Humans, like you, need the antidote injected directly into their bodies for it to work. Youkai can absorb it through rain, vapor, or mixed with nature's essence. I intend to turn this into vapor, so that it rains down all over Gensokyo, thus curing all the fairies, youkai and spirits without risking our necks, or wasting our time out there."

Right after saying all of that, the liquid inside the cauldron suddenly erupts, light blue clouds rise from the top of a light-blue geyser that spills the hot antidote all over the surrounding area, and after everything settles down again, and the antidote clouds begin doing their job, the silver-haired woman casually shrugs and says "a little more crude than I thought. Don't use so much heat next time Udonge."

Before the Moon Rabbit is able to apologize, a commotion from their rights startles her into jumping behind her master, and then Mokou instinctively prepares a fireball on her hand, while Keine and Kaguya ready themselves for anything.

In front of the massive mob of furious humans is Marisa Kirisame, running desperately toward the girls while being showered with rotten vegetables, rocks, pots, and even the debris from the broken houses; all of the things the young villagers are able to get their hands on.

The violet-haired immortal stands in between the zombie-like witch, the teacher and their temporary allies, raises a wall of fire, forcing the witch to stop, then shouts "what the hell do you think you're doing here? Get out of the village this instant, Kirisame!"

The desperate girl jumps through the hot flaming wall, and once at the other side she resumes her run toward Eirin while smacking the fire off her hat, ignores the fact that her dress is burning off, lands on her knees, and begs to the Lunarian "please, PLEASE, give me the antidote! I-I can't take this!"

Eirin sighs while rubbing her left eye, and says "I already told you. Your antidote had to be made special. That's why **YOU** and Flandre had to pay, and that's why I also gave it to Reimu."

"BUT SHE WON'T GIVE IT TO ME!" cries the girl as she clings to the pharmacist's shirt.

The silver-haired woman looks down on the disgusting girl with her coldest, darkest eyes, while the girl cries "I'm so hungry, but I cannot eat anything! And my thirst! **I'm going mad! Please, I'll pay you anything; just let me have the cure!**"

All the girls stare so coldly at the witch, it's a surprise none of them have tried to blast her yet, and before the obviously angry Lunarian gives her answer, the wall of fire dies down, the girls all step aside, then the female villager in the lead points and shouts "there she is! **GET HER OUT OF OUR VILLAGE!**"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the Tengu Village, a loud celebration is bringing that seemingly dead mountain back to life.<p>

True, the Youkai Mountain has become larger due to its expanding after the virus was dealt with, but only a few trees from around Kasen's dojo and the Moriya Shrine have survived, and even the Giant Toad's Pond appears in desperate need of restoration; something the newly recovered fairies are subconsciously taking care of.

But the main interest is the party at the hidden village being held to honor Aya, whom wears a ceremonial kimono that accents her radiant beauty, something the other tengu failed to notice until this day.

Her hat has those three puffs she used to wear, and is wearing them again mostly out of nostalgia, but was also asked to wear them to match her current outfit.

The black and white kimono has very long sleeves that are tied by a red string on the elbows, have a black border at the end of the sleeves, and come with black triangular back-hand gloves that attach to a ring on the tengu girl's middle finger, and the ribs of the shirt are slit, covered by a net on black borders that tease the eyes.

The beautiful red belt that makes the already shapely tengu look even more curvy has a beautiful motif of lighter-red leaves blowing in the wind, and the belt separates the white top from the long black skirt with golden maple leaves blowing in the wind, that appear to be gathering at the bottom of the skirt.

The front of said skirt is wide open, but, of course, the front is covered by the long strand from the white shirt that hangs beautifully from the belt, allowing for enough of her legs to present themselves and drive the males crazy.

There's plenty of sake but little food, since most of the stores have spoiled, but the party is going at full force, yet Aya, who sits on the chair of honor next to Tenma's, Kanako's and Suwako's at the long feast table, looks around with a miserable look on her face.

"What's the matter Miss Aya?"

Momiji's voice snap the tengu from what appeared to be a deep though, and startles her so much, her wings sprout suddenly and she starts to breathe through her teeth while lifting her hands defensively.

This arouses the foolish male tengu, and all quickly rush to her from all over the table to offer her a drink from their own cups.

Doing this causes the poor girl to have flashbacks, and instead of the small feast, the sake, and the table, she sees bony hands, blood, decaying flesh hanging from moaning monsters, broken tables and cups, but somehow manages to settle herself and politely decline all the drinks offered, something she would have never done before.

Noticing this immediately, the white wolf tengu pushes the men away from the girl, demanding "alright, alright, you sick little wolves! She's not interested now. Come back later!"

The drunkards lament a bit, but quickly resume their merry drinking away from the nervous bird girl.

As she settles, Momiji turns to face her, and concernedly asks "Aya-san, are you alright? It's not like you to turn down sake."

The crow tengu stares at the young white wolf, but is unable to tell her all she wants is to be left alone so that she can go and see Satori.

At the same time, at the clean parts of the Ancient City, another party is taking place, even though half of the city is still in desperate need of cleaning from the blood and puss.

That, and there is also the fact that almost all the oni there still look like monsters, as they are yet to take their antidote after allowing the weaker youkai to take their share after their supply had run short.

"Don't worry, that doctor will come with more," repeats the monstrous Yuugi as she hands Kisume the last syringe with antidote.

The little blob-like girl in her bucket quietly nods while staring at the worm-infested eye on the oni, and before she knows it, she's been injected on the left shoulder, and the blonde instructs "now go outside and take a bit of sun and you'll be as good as new."

At the center of the celebrations, Satori stands with Orin and the cured Koishi in front of a small round table filled with bread and a few fruits.

Other tables have meats, juice, snacks, or other miscellaneous things for all the inhabitants of the city and Chireiden.

The purple-haired mind-reader is wearing a black dress with puffy short sleeves that cover her shoulders, a white band over the breasts, underneath that is a blue band that trails down to her waist, where the dress splits to three short tabs that make for an elegant adornment for her short white skirt.

Her third eye has been set on her left breast with the help of a comfortably soft latch on that white band, her elbows hold the white detached sleeves with an elastic band on the beginning of said sleeves, which covers all the way down to her hands, which are currently adorned by silky-soft white gloves, and instead of her comfortable sandals she misses so much, she's wearing a pair of thigh-high blackish-brown, cross-laced boots.

Though everyone around her celebrates her bravery, only Orin notices the distance and fright in her master's eyes.

Concerned, she cautiously approaches the satori's ear, and whispers "what's the matter Satori-sama?"

The mind-reader gasps and hops away, shoots a flash from her third eye that hurts the zombie-like oni on the right, then gasps while covering her mouth and cries "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! It was an accident!" while bowing repeatedly.

The oni just laugh cheerfully, then one of them says "s'aright! Shit happens all the time!"

The oni to his right cheers "LET'S DRINK TO THAT," then the celebrations resume as if nothing every happened.

The kasha grabs her master's hand and pulls her away from the party, is followed by Koishi shortly after, then Okuu lands where the girls were just a moment before, looks around with confusion, and asks "hey, where are they? I just saw them here!"

Once far away enough from the party, Orin grabs Satori by the shoulders and concernedly says "Satori-sama, you need to calm down. These people are your friends!"

The purple-haired girl just backs away from the cat girl in a hurtfully defensive way, and with a terrified, high-pitched tone of voice, says "I'm sorry Orin-chan, but they still look like that. I can't... shake the feeling that they..."

The red-haired girl frowns after a long sigh, and says "I see. I guess it's just too soon. Look, if you want, I can excuse you to the others, and you can go to your room and rest some more."

"I know what she wants," says Koishi in a very naughty tone, with an equally naughty smile.

She hums a cute tune while kicking her stiff legs to the air and walks around her sister with her hands behind her back, coos, and says "you want to see that girl, don't you? I know~! You don't know it, but your subconsciously thinking of her, quite loudly. There is something else, but we can talk about it some other time if you want."

For a moment, the mind-reading girl thinks of arguing that point about Aya with her sister, but she can't deny she's been thinking Aya's name all day, and silently waits for her sister's proposition.

Meanwhile, that afternoon, at the tengu village, Momiji runs through the valley in the village, stops right in front of Aya's restored door, and calls "Ayaaaaa! Aya-saaaaan! Please come out! The others are looking all over for you! Moriya-sama wants to perform a gratitude ritual in your honor!"

From inside the house's second floor, the crow reporter shouts back "please go away! I don't want any more parties! I just want to be alone. Please, you're going to attract the others!"

Hatate lands next to the white wolf, looking normal, though there's a new mature look about her face as she faces the house, and loudly says "oh, Momiji, what a surprise. I just came over from the party to look for the main attraction. Still, I'm sure she isn't **DUMB** enough to hide in her own house, seeing as it's the **VERY FIRST PLACE** everyone will go looking for her."

There is no answer coming from the house, and quickly understanding the brown haired crow's plan, Momiji loudly says "alright then, Hatate, let's talk to Tenma and excuse her. Aya, use the front exit. There aren't any guards there today. Good luck."

Hatate smiles as she and the wolf girl run back to the party, and loudly says "say hi to that girl for me!"

Inside the house, Aya has removed her ceremonial kimono, and is currently wearing a simple, long white dress that covers her all the way down to her ankles.

She's sitting against the wall next to the still-broken window at the balcony of her house, and after she hears the other girls' footsteps no more, she lowers her head, smiles, and softly says "her name is Satori, you stupid bi- ...Heh, I mean, you silly brunette."

Later that day, just as the sky turns dark orange, Aya arrives to the Hakurei Shrine, and quickly finds Satori sitting by the farthest corner of the shrine's storage house, removing her gloves and sleeves after having removed her pair of boots.

Before the tengu girl lands, the mind-reader is already smiling and saying "so, you escaped too, I see."

The very moment that winged girl lands in front of her friend, the purple-haired youkai springs on her feet to greet her dear girl with a quick hug, and while holding on to that warm embrace, she asks "how have you been?"

Aya sighs while trying to smile, though the pain is there, in her heart, mind and forced expression, and admits "not so well. How about you?"

The girls push each other away, sit down with their backs against the little house's right wall, and then Satori admits "same as you. I don't feel safe anymore. I feel like my own pets could just jump me at any moment."

The tengu sobs as she hugs her knees, and failing to hold herself back, she cries "I know the feeling. It's like after all that shit we went through, we're still so far away from home."

A tear escapes the satori girl, shivers while looking at the ground between her legs, and after a loud sniffle, she says "yes, that's what I feel too. The others, they don't understand, but you do, Aya-chan. You understand why I'm so afraid of walking alone down the halls of my own house."

The reporter girl offers an arm for her friend, and both end up bumping heads after the embrace, but not caring for it the winged girl, in a more solid, but cold tone of voice, says "I know. I don't feel safe in my own home, Satori-chan. And what's worse, I keep having these flashbacks. I can still see those zombies. I hear them, smell them, they're all over me. Satori-chan, I'm so scared."

Satori sighs and returns the gesture, placing her hand on the tengu's surprisingly silky new dress, and says "bu-but I feel safe now, with you."

Aya nods and says "likewise. I know I can trust you. Ah, but soon, we'll have to go back to our homes again. I don't want to."

The mind-reading youkai wants to divert the conversation, wanting to forget her own fears, as well as ease those of her tengu friend, so she forces a chuckle, and says "my, what a pretty dress. So soft too. Where did you buy it?"

The winged reporter knows what her dear friend is doing, and wants to do the same, so she plays along, giggles, and says "tengu handiwork at its finest. The tailor actually gave it to me. Her finest work; and she let me have it for free. It felt a bit awkward, but it was very nice of her, so I accepted, and seeing as I have nothing else to wear for the time being, I was doubly grateful to her."

She looks at her friend with a more natural smile, and asks "what about yours. You look so beautiful. Tee-hee, makes your legs look great."

The elder Komeiji blushes as she looks away, stammers for quite some time, then stops to look at her friend's mischievous smile, blushes harder, and says "*ahem* Koishi gave it to me, as a present. She wanted me to wear something special for the party in my honor. It's nice, but the boots and the gloves are a little too much for me."

The two girls end up blushing while smiling at each other, then a leaf suddenly rustles to the right, then both jump on their feet in defensive poses, and look around with intense eyes.

The bushes and trees have very few leaves on them, so hiding behind them would be hard, and this fact helps the two girls settle down when they fail to find the source of the noise.

Unknown to them, Reimu has been watching them from the window of her shrine, and from her long sigh, it is obvious she feels very sorry for the two girls hiding in her shrine.

She thinks of inviting them over, but after realizing that would cause a counter-effect, she sighs again and says to herself "this is bad. Those two can't forget that as quickly as I had hoped."

The shrine maiden grabs her head in frustration and says to herself "argh, what should I do? Can I do something? Tch, now I don't feel as sorry for denying Marisa the antidote. She deserves what she's getting!"

After a very long pause and several scenarios have run through her head, she decides to go outside, muttering "I'll get close... tell them to touch me... should convince them..."

And so, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise walks out of her shrine to perform one of those odd duties demanded to her by her position, in hopes that she will at least get on those girls' good side.

* * *

><p>Three months pass and Gensokyo is only beginning to recover its grass, trees, flowers and bushes, but spots like the Youkai Mountain, the Scarlet Devil Mansion's island, and the Nameless Hill, which still has that castle surrounding the newly-born poison flowers, are taking their time to heal, even with the fairies working non-stop on nature's recovery.<p>

It is a calm summer afternoon at the Hakurei Shrine, where Reimu is sitting under the veranda to the left side of the shrine, drinking tea while staring at the recovered trees in front of her.

A sudden gust of wind from the west brings an unpleasant smell to her nostrils, and her peaceful face becomes disturbed as she angrily asks "what do you want now?"

Over at the stairs of the shrine stands a figure dressed in a navy blue hooded robe that covers her down to the ankles.

The hooded person walks fast toward the shrine maiden, drops on her knees when in front of the girl, and pulls the hood away, revealing the disgusting sight of the bald, still zombie-like Marisa.

Her eyes are full of veins, and her dried brown face is swollen and slimy, meaning she's been crying non-stop.

She places her bony hands on the maiden's thigh, sobs and cries until the maiden impatiently demands "OUT WITH IT!" then cries "Reimu. Reimu, please, I beg of you, for the love of our friendship! The hunger, the thirst... they're driving me insane! Please! Ple-hease, Reimu! Three months! Three whole months!"

The anger the maiden was feeling a moment ago is quickly drowned by pity from the sad state her long-time friend is, but she has a duty to perform, and with a heavy heart, she softly asks "Marisa, do you understand why I still haven't let you have the antidote?"

"**I goofed! BIG TIME! I know; I should have been more careful! I should have never used my friends like that! I... I swear, I won't do something like that again, I swear on my mother's hat!**"

The witch's words seem sincere, but there is more to it, so Reimu nods and asks "I understand, but before I give you my definite answer for today, I must know something. Do you understand what you **did**? Do you realize what you put everyone through, what you caused to those two girls, to Gensokyo, your own home?"

After saying this, she points to the back of the shrine, to the gazebo she installed some time before, where Aya and Satori currently are, sleeping soundly in their regular outfits, with their heads resting on each other; the mind-reader's on the tengu's shoulder, and the tengu's head on the mind-reader's; and asks "those two still feel unsafe in their very homes, and the only reason they trust **me** is because I worked hard to earn that trust. Now tell me, do you **truly **understand what you did to them? Do you really think you have felt their pain?"

"Aya still isn't the same as before," angrily shouts Momiji before landing behind Marisa's left, then clenches her fists and waves them in the air as she continues "she's become far less trusting of all her tengu brethren, AND has become quite the nuisance for me, for I have to trail her wherever she goes in case she goes ballistic again!"

The witch looks up at the white wolf with fright and stammers, but before she can finally answer, Koishi and Orin land to Reimu's right, then the young Komeiji angrily says "ah, there's the bad girl. Reimu, don't give her anything!"

The kasha sighs, turns sideways to glance at her master sleeping at the gazebo, and says "at least she can sleep here. Did you know she hasn't been able to sleep on her own bed, Marisa?"

From the roof of the shrine, Okuu looks down at the witch, and says "not only that, but she hasn't been eating properly! She's too scared, and everything she eats ends up in the trash and on a mop!"

The subconscious satori, whose third eye looks like it's actually squinting, sighs and says "it's been so hard for onee-chan. I'm really trying to help her, but whenever I make a breakthrough, she shuts her brain and calls for Aya."

Momiji sighs as she slumps sadly, and then says "Aya's been doing the same back at home. It's like for them, they are still surrounded by zombies and stuff. Heck, when Nitori went to install that air conditioner in her house, any sudden sounds, and she would jump, scream, and shoot us all with her camera. Seriously, it's more annoying than her peep-shooting."

Koishi suddenly coos, and says "ooh, so she's been getting gifts too, huh? That's awesome. Satori has been getting them non-stop, and all with letters of apology. Hmm... I think there was a love letter too."

Orin cups her hands together in front of her chest, and adds "oh wait, is Nitori the kappa? She's the one that installed that wonderful air conditioner in Satori-sama's room. Ah, but..."

She sighs as she slumps sadly, and says "ah, but any sudden sounds from that 'installing', and Satori-sama would shoot flashes at us and run away. Me and Koishi are the only ones that can get close, so we had to go look for her all the time. Ugh, seeing her cowering like that behind the toilet was terrible."

From the roof, Okuu angrily shouts "hey! I can get close to Satori-sama too! I even carried her home several times after she thought she saw a zombie rabbit running through the city."

Marisa drops on her hands on the ground between the girls, her tears and drool drip on the ground below her as she sobs and inhales hard, and cries "alright, stop, sto-hop! I get it! I'm sorry for what I did to them! It's true, I really am! Just, please, don't tell me anymore! No more! I'm never going to be able to make it up to them anyway!"

Reimu finally stands up, bends her knees beside her friend, places a supportive hand on her back, and softly says "seems you truly understand what you did after all. But now it's not on my hands whether you get the antidote or not, I'm afraid. It's up to **them**."

Knowing the meaning of the shrine maiden's word, the witch simply breaks down to cry some more without even trying to look up, and the Hakurei Maiden, still placing that supportive hand on her friend's back, looks up at the other girls, and says "as for those two, the mental damage caused by this mess was far greater than I thought. Even Yuka came by to apologize to them, for not helping out more when they asked her."

The group remains silent, so the black haired maiden continues "but don't be discouraged. They are two strong youkai, and they will heal... eventually. You have to give them the time and space they need, and, I'm sure Tenma will kill me for saying this, but I believe they should be allowed to be together for as long as they need. Together those two will heal faster, so I think Satori should be allowed in the Tengu Village."

The group of girls remain silent, agreeing with Reimu via soft nods, then soon, for some reason, turn their sights to the crying girl on the ground between them, and even Okuu on the roof can't help but feel sadness for the torture of thirst, hunger, and guilt that human is going through.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, over at the gazebo, the seemingly sleeping girls peek toward the group with Reimu, then Aya whispers "it's ok. It doesn't look like they're coming over."<p>

Satori lets out a sigh of relief and whispers "good. It's already hard to look at them gathering like that. Like they are plotting... waiting for us to lower our guard, and strike us down."

The tengu gulps, lifts her head, and then softly says "Satori-chan, what is wrong with us? We took care of that cauldron, they are our friends once more, yet I cannot see them as such. Like you, I'm thinking they are going to attack, but you and I have flashed them, and they react like they should! Not scream in pain."

"Like you, Aya-chan," begins the mind-reader as she lifts her head, "I have thought of this, but am too afraid when I'm not with you. I'm scared of my sister and pets. I can't trust them, or my eyes."

There is a sudden flash and an annoying mechanical whirr that causes the girls to yelp out loud, and when Hatate peeks her face from the roof of the gazebo, she gets flashed and beamed on the face by the two nervous girls.

After that brown-haired girl screams and falls on her head, Reimu angrily shouts "hey! Hatate, leave them alone!"

The twin-tailed tengu gets on her knees and waves a casual "wait a minute" hand at the shrine maiden, then smiles at the two frightened girls and says "gee, what kind of reaction is that? I was just, like, taking a picture of the newest Gensokyo couple for my paper."

The two frightened girls only shoot dirty glares at the annoying girl, then the annoyed Shameimaru says "please, just get away from me and Satori-chan."

Hatate sits straight, tilting her head cutely to the right, and then sounding surprised, she asks "wait, SERIOUSLY? You seriously think we're going to attack you, or try to kill you?"

Before either girl answers, the checkered-skirted tengu frowns and places her hands on her hips, and says "I already told you, I'm not going to bother you about your paper, Shameimaru! And you, Komeiji girl, you can read minds. You're supposed to know if we're all really the flesh-eating zombies we were three months ago."

Both Aya and Satori stare at the girl with surprise, but again, before either is able to speak, Hatate continues "I can't blame you for being, like, all freaked out about that stuff. I mean, I know we tried to kill you, against our wills and all that, but you two already solved that incident."

"But Hatate-"

"But nothing," interrupts Himekaidou, cutting her tengu ally off, then continues "maybe you haven't noticed, but those girls gathered up over there are dead worried about you two. They want to help you, but you two are too stressed up to even allow them to try and help. You two need to relax a little, think about things a little more calmly, and let us help you out."

"It's not that easy," softly begins Satori, while doing her best to look at the tengu in the eyes instead of the ground, and continues "we're trying. We really are, but we're both experiencing flashes; moments at any given time where we see everything so... disgusting, and so vile. R-right now, I saw you as that zombie chasing after us all over Gensokyo."

Hatate sighs, face palms, then says "well there you go. You _SEE_ me as that monster from before, but I'm not chasing you, or trying to kill you. Think about it. Read my mind, and you'll see."

Aya gulps, wraps her arms around her purple-haired friend from behind, and then nervously says "S-Satori-chan can't read minds when she's upset! Y-you shouldn't force her!"

"Then you two should relax," insists the twin-tailed girl with a steeled face.

The nervous girls look at each other, and after some time, they nod to each other, slowly settle down, then the satori youkai sighs and says "alright. You're right. *Gulp* We should relax. Um, so now, I will try to read your mind."

A few minutes after, the group at the left entrance to the shrine building can see Aya and Satori exit that gazebo and walk over to them.

Reimu quickly moves ahead, stops when three feet away from the group, then twists around to say "don't get too close," then turns around again to face the two girls.

Aya and Satori stop when about three feet away from the shrine maiden, who asks "is everything ok? Hatate wasn't bothering you, right?"

Both shake their heads lightly, and then the mind-reader says "no. She just told us what we needed to hear, it seems."

The Hakurei Maiden looks to the roof of the gazebo, where Hatate waves and winks at her before taking off to the Youkai Mountain on her own.

She turns her attention back to the girls, watches as they reach for each others' hand, apparently for support, then, with a nervous smile on her face, Aya softly says "Reimu, um, I think it's time to give Marisa the antidote. She... she's suffered enough."

The crying witch lifts her head to look with surprise at the two girls, but fails to react due to the surprise and shock she's in.

Ignoring her, Reimu smiles at the two girls before her, nods, and says "alright then. Thank you both very much. I'm sure she'll be grateful to you, but are you two alright? Don't you want me to kick these guys out?"

"No-no, it's ok. They can stay," nervously says Satori, and then Aya sighs and says "the thing is, we want to thank you all for trying to help us. We really are grateful, but please, you have to give us some space and some time so we can heal."

The girls behind Reimu gaze softly at the two girls doing their best to remain standing before them, and then Momiji bows her head and says "I think we can do that, but please..."

"...let us know if you need help. We'll be there for you," finishes Koishi, to everyone's surprise.

She looks around at those surprised faces, looks away with a cute blush of embarrassment and a pout, and says "wh-what! I can't be nice to onee-chan now?"

Even the two nervous girls can't help but smile and giggle at the sight, then Orin jumps, catching, and pushing Okuu far away, before she crash-lands in front of Satori and Aya and effectively ruin the great progress done that day.

An hour later, Reimu and Marisa stand in front of the donation box, where the sun keeps shining bright, then the shrine maiden places her right hand in her right pocket, but stops before pulling the antidote she obviously has there.

Before the witch gets impatient, the Hakurei Maiden, with a shadow of fear over her eyes, says "Marisa, I know what happened at the village after the incident got solved."

The witch looks away with an embarrassment blush, scratches her cheek, and asks "so? Wh-what does that have to do with you giving me my antidote?"

The girl in red and white reluctantly pulls the syringe with the antidote out of her pocket, and says "Marisa, if Eirin wasn't there to help you, you'd still be looking for your fingers! Once I give you this, you will become a mortal again! I... I'm scared for you! You might get killed."

The ordinary magician tries to look at her friend in the eyes, but the shrine maiden keeps lowering her face and blocking herself with her own hair, and that's when the small feast behind said maiden catches her eyes, then desperately says "I understand, but Reimu, I haven't been able to sleep because of this thirst and this hunger! Please, I'm at the brink of madness!"

Reimu suddenly rushes to her friend and gives her a tight embrace, and says "you stupid girl, I'm so mad at you, but even so, I'm so worried about you! It's so confusing! I still can't forgive you, but seeing you like this hurts me so much."

Without Marisa's notice, the shrine maiden sticks that needle on her shoulder while still embracing her, injects the liquid, and in a matter of a mere minute the witch's entre body recovers its natural skin and color, her eyes return to their usual self, and her hair grows back, though only to a length similar to Satori's.

She suddenly drops when her skinny body realizes she hasn't had food or water for enough time to kill her, but by some miracle she remains alive, and weakly says "Reimu... W-water. Water!"

The Hakurei girl, who easily holds her underweighted friend up, helps the blonde to the small feast on a picnic blanket, quickly gives her a mug of water prepared for just such request, and a minute or so after that water enters her system, the blonde witch pushes her friend away and begins wolfing down two loafs of bread at once.

The sight is more hurtfully pitiable than disgusting to Reimu, who suddenly speaks as loudly as she can "Marisa, I want you to forget that damned pride of yours! If you run out of food, you come over here immediately! We'll work with the villagers somehow, but in the meantime, you come over here and eat, did you understand me? Don't you dare force yourself to suffer needlessly!"

The short-haired blonde stops eating to look at her worried friend with those stuffed cheeks, stares at that shaking body and those worry-tears going down her friend's cheeks, then nods and begins to chew.

Reimu just watches her friend some more with both anger and pity mixing together in a most uncomfortable way inside her heart, and rubs her right arm for warmth.

From the right corner of the shrine building, Satori and Aya watch with wonder and some pity, but their anger is also evident.

And from the roof, the group of girls watch Marisa pigging out, then Momiji says "*sigh* humans are so pathetic."

Orin lets out a disapproving expression, and then says "so disgusting. Look at her eating all that like some beast. Worst of all, she's gonna eat it all and leave nothing for me!"

Koishi pats the kasha on the head, and as if knowing what she's saying, whispers "humans. They're just that fragile. Food and water are very important to their bodies, and that skeletal girl needs her sustenance."

When the group looks to Okuu, expecting to hear something from her, they gasp and look around with shock when they can't find her, then all yelp with more surprise when they find the hell raven youkai sitting next to Marisa and Reimu, near the donation box, asking for a taste of that food on the picnic blanket.

* * *

><p>Some days later, at night, Aya finishes typing on her new typewriter in her living room, pulls the piece of paper from the roll, and while she carefully reads it, she hums, then mumbles "and it's done."<p>

She gets up and takes that piece of paper to a stack on the table next to the entrance, then says to herself "and so, the fifteenth chapter of the special edition of my Bunbunmaru is finished: Tales of an Undying Gensokyo."

She picks the pictures next to the paper stacks, starts looking at the photos of the zombies she fought near the castle, at Chiyuri, then Yumemi, both trying to get her, then Reimu, then Mamizou, and just as she reaches Okuu's, her face becomes pale, her eyes lose focus, her wings spring on her back on their own, and she starts to shiver.

She drops the pictures on the floor and takes several steps back until she's against the wall, and all of a sudden, like flashes, she sees those mutant tengu inside her house, walking slowly to her and reaching for her.

She drops on her seat on the ground and tries to kick herself away, while in her mind, she battles to keep herself in reality, to convince herself those monsters aren't there, then sees a flash of Momiji's pale an empty self in front of her, and holds her head tight, grips her hair, starts to sob as tears roll down her cheeks, then she softly whimpers "Satori. Satori-chan. Please help me. Satori-chan"

The tengu girl is so distressed, she fails to hear when Momiji knocks on the door and calls.

Outside, when the white wolf fails to get a response after the fourth knock, she growls softly and grumbles to herself "shit, another episode. I better be careful," she then opens the door as delicately as she can.

From within, Aya sees the beam of a very dim light entering through her door, but is so unhinged, she thinks it's an attack, and when the real Momiji's silhouette appears before her, she screams, takes her maple fan on hand, and shoots several wind blades to the door.

The white wolf was expecting this, dodges two blades by ducking and straightening herself, hops to the right to avoid another, then claps her hands and activates a small tornado in front of herself that stops a fourth wind blade that was headed straight at Shameimaru's hard work.

Having saved the stack of papers, the wolf girl sighs while softly dusting her hands, and scans the entire living room with her eyes until she finds Aya shivering behind her couch.

Momiji rolls her eyes, then shakes her head and says "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bother you. Just came over to see if you were done."

She looks behind herself at the table, notices stack of papers on it, then the pictures on the floor, and thinks "_ah, it seems she was looking at these. Well, this is the last issue, so she won't have to look at them again._"

The white wolf picks the pictures up from the ground, places them on the stacks of papers, and then says "right, I'll take these to Nitori then. She's eager to print the last of these. Um, anyway, if you need anything-"

"Wait!"

Somehow, Aya has recovered her mind, yet still looks shaken as she gets out of her hiding spot, walks closer to the wolf girl, and while awkwardly looking around, she hesitantly says "um, er, p-please, s-stay for a bit. I-I need to check something out. C-erm, can I touch your face?"

Momiji turns around to face the girl, gives a solid nod, then the crow girl says "um, p-please hold still," and very softly and carefully approaches her shaking hands to the white-haired girl's face.

She can feel when that girl twitches to her touch, how warm her face is, how firm and flexible the skin is, then removes her hands, takes a sigh of relief, and exclaims "thank goodness! It was just another nightmare after all!"

The white-haired girl before her chuckles softly, and smiles while she says "of course. Miss Shameimaru, it's over now. You are back home. I'm sure you know this by now."

The black-haired tengu nods, so Momiji drops the subject, turns around to get the papers, and as she walks out the door she says "we'll have these ready for you in the morning. You should take a bath, and please, try to get some sleep. You really need it."

Just before her guest leaves, Aya bows and says "Momiji, thank you... for all your hard work... and putting up with me all this time. I know how much you hate it when I'm bossing you around. Just know I really appreciate you helping me."

The proud wolf turns her head around and gives the girl a grin, flips a thumb up, and as she dashes away, she shouts "no need to thank me. Now go rest!"

Aya watches as the girl disappears from her sight in less than a minute, and then slowly closes her door, thinking "_it's a little more complicated than that, Momiji._"

She's now in her brand-new white bathtub, enjoying a hot bath thanks to the heater Nitori had installed for her.

She sighs and moans contently as she lets her body relax under that hot water, while thinking "_I mean, what if I didn't really solve anything? I still don't know what happened to me after I blacked out. What happened to that yellow stuff that was headed toward me?_"

She closes her eyes, sinks her head underwater for a bit, then rises again, gasps for air, and as she looks at her body seemingly squiggling under the water, she thinks "_what if I am trapped in an illusion? What if I didn't really spill that thing? Maybe I'm sitting in that throne right now, commanding everyone to do my bidding... but Satori-chan's, Reimu's, Hatate's and Momiji's warmth. No illusion can fake that, can it?_"

She's now at the balcony above her living room in a fluffy brown bath robe, sitting on a brand new, black single couch, looking out the repaired window at the stars on the clear sky, and thinks "_the sky is too beautiful to be fake, but what if that's what they want me to think? And whatever happened to that other me? Am I her? Did she leave, or am **I **her? Did she die, or did **I** die?_"

Another flash passes though the girl's mind and sees herself lying dead on top of a pool of her own blood, with a broken ankle and ruined wings, while several zombies slowly make their way to her to devour what's left of her flesh.

She gasps when she gets back to reality (_or are you?_), shakes her head, then takes a deep breath, and says to herself "calm down Shameimaru! You have to relax, just like Hatate said! You are back home (_are you really back?_), Gensokyo is restored (_is it really restored?_), so just calm down."

Her mind finally settles, and that questioning voice quiet downs, then she starts thinking about Satori and can't help but smile.

She remains on that balcony until the morning comes, clicks her tongue after realizing she stayed there all night, and with a light smile she says to herself "another sleepless night. I guess I'll go sleep with Satori-chan at the shrine again," then gets off the small couch and walks straight to her room.

Later that morning, after having had breakfast and delivered a few of her special edition papers at the Human Village and the Hakurei Shrine, she flies straight to the cave leading underground, carrying one last paper in her yellow bag.

As she enters the cave, she waves at Kogasa, whom hangs upside down, tied by her ankles by one of Yamame's web, and said blonde youkai lowers herself from the dark ceiling to join her karakasa friend, and waves at the tengu visitor as well.

As she goes further inside, she flies by Kisume's bucket, whom lifts her sleepy head over the edges of her pail, looks around with those heavy eyes, then drops back inside her little bucket to sleep some more.

The tengu girl dives down the hole to the Ancient City, and as soon as she reaches the bottom she is followed by Parsee, who shouts angry welcomes and jealous babbles about her coming and going as she pleases, and then she reaches the city itself.

It has been cleaned completely, renewed to the point that looks like a city from the outside world, and the inhabitants there are far more cheerful than ever.

The moment Yuugi notices Aya flying above the buildings, she smiles friendly-like and loudly calls "**heyyy, it's Aya-san!**" causing the entire city to look up and cheer their greetings to the passing tengu.

She's still not used to all the attention, so she bashfully waves back at them, fighting hard with herself after a flash blinds her eyes for a second, and she sees saggy-skinned zombie oni and perverted green spirits trying to reach for her.

She speeds up to leave the city as fast as she can, but continues waving at the oni (_those horrible zombies_) waving back at her (_reaching for her in an attempt to rip her flesh and gnaw on her bones_).

The reporter lands in front of Chireiden's gates, looks around in case she gets another flash, then sighs with relief when neither the flash or that voice poison her emotions, then she walks to the gates.

Those doors open long before she reaches them, and there is Satori, already standing under the doorway, waiting for her dear friend with a warm smile on her face.

Aya returns the warm smile, then playfully asks "so, you were waiting for me to bring you your paper, I see."

The mind-reader chuckles, and says "actually, I didn't know you were coming. I, er, was just walking around the palace when I heard the commotion at the city. I knew it had to be you, so..."

The tengu walks over to her friend, and then stops in front of her under that doorway, where they just stare at each other for a while before the purple-haired girl admits "actually, it... happened again; those flashes."

The crow tengu frowns, gulps, and asks "and that voice? Do you hear it too?"

Satori immediately leans over and kisses the girl on the lips, then says "you are not going insane, nor are you someone else. You went through a lot more than I did, so it is only natural that you are experiencing worst symptoms than I am."

Aya remains where she is, more shocked at the fact that her friend was able to read all of that in just a few seconds, then smiles and says "hey, your mind reading powers are as annoyingly quick as when we met at the shrine. I actually missed that."

They both share a quick giggle and some smiles, then the tengu reporter opens her bag, hands over the rolled newspaper wrapped with a special pastel-yellow mantle with ribbons rolled around it, and says "it's the final chapter. Now you'll know what happened to me and Flandre up there."

The youkai girl grabs the tengu's hand, and then says "it was so nice that Mister Rinnosuke let you keep that camera. Compared to your old newspapers, the pictures on these new ones look far more lively and clean."

The embarrassed girl's wings pop from her back as she blushes and looks away, and says "p-please don't read those old things. To think there are still some of those old prints out there."

Again, the girls just stare at each other and smile, then Aya turns around and says "well, you must be busy, so I'll just-"

Satori keeps holding her friend's hand, tugs it lightly to make her turn around, smiles while her cheeks turn a bit pink, and then says "please, stay here for today. I, um, have been having a lot of those flashes, and would be more comfortable if you were around."

The black-haired girl smiles, and without hesitation she nods and says "sure. I can stay. Besides, we could help each other a lot with those flashes, if they come back to bother us that is."

After some quick, soft chuckles, the girls enter the large mansion and close the doors behind themselves, and as they walk down the corridor, Aya says "Satori-chan, I know you saw it. That doubt in my head. I still have that doubt in my heart. Are we really here, back home? Did I really save us all from that terrible virus?"

There is a short moment of silence, then the mind reader answers "I have had that same doubt, my dear Aya-chan. But you know something? After being with Orin, Koishi, and Okuu all this time, I am sure we truly are back. We have to believe this, or else, we'll both go mad."

Outside the palace, a skeletal hell rave caws furiously, its eyes glow bright red, and in a sudden flash, several more skeletal crows fly by, threatening to attack the Ancient City, and after another flash, they are gone from sight, as if they were never really there.

* * *

><p>The end.<p>

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

The Castle as the Nameless Hill was created by Willie G.R. (similarities are strictly coincidental.)

Aya's and Satori's party wear idea came from artworks seen at Danbooru and PIXIV.

JAN 31 2012

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**First off, take notice that I WILL write an EX (Extra) chapter for Undying Gensokyo, and it will center a little more on Marisa's recovery, and Gensokyo's as well (for those interested). Also, after I finish with the EX chapter, I will take a short break to catch up on some reading, including reacquainting myself with Spell Cards and Keyblades, so that I may continue promptly with that story :)!**

**Anyway, I want to thank all of those that left reviews behind. Some helped me come up with more ways to tell this story, others lifted my spirit very much, and helped me write on and on! **

**And so ends the incident that caused the monstrous Undying Gensokyo. The girls seem will never heal, but you know what... They are youkai! They WILL heal! They might take a while, but they will heal. In this Touhou-world, though, Gensokyo HAS changed a bit, and will remain changed. I mean, so much happened thanks to Marisa's immortality potion, it's impossible for everything to go back exactly to the way it was before. Maybe a few things here and there can... or can they?**


	17. EX WE'RE BACK!

**NOTE: This chapter is very light, and has light comedic elements. I still hope you enjoy the Extra chapter of this horror story.**

* * *

><p><em>This is Marisa Kirisame, Date: xOXO/Xx_

_It has been exactly one year since the incident I caused was solved, and exactly nine months since Reimu administered my antidote after Aya and Satori gave her permission for it. I still find it ironic that they gave the 'ok' so easily, considering all the crap I put them through. Yes, I am very conscious of what I did now, unlike before, when I chose to pin the blame on others. Ah, but now I'm just rambling. Oh, right, an update... Well, as you'd expect, Gensokyo looks like it used to again, though, at the same time, it's different. I... changed many things. And I don't mean physically only. I'm talking full-blown changing of this place's way of life. Others might think otherwise, but this is really starting to eat at me. This guilt won't lift, and I can't blame anybody this time. What would Mima say if she saw me like this, I wonder? No, she still hasn't come to see me, and I'm too afraid to go outside for too long to look for her. As I expected since before the incident got solved, I am a target. Everybody knows what I did, and everybody that attacks me does so with lethal force. Reimu, my dearest friend, sticks up for me whenever she can, and enforces the use of spell cards, saying that it is more satisfying to beat me up rather than kill me. I know what she means by that, though. She's angry at me too, and for good reasons. But still, I know I could just spark the living hell out of all those attackers, but whenever I am reminded of what I caused, I lose my will, just like that. That's not the worst part of it. The worst part is my being unable to live by myself. I only have a few scraps of food left from the leftovers Reimu, Byakuren, and Suwako at the mountain shrine, have given me. This is hell for me. I know Reimu told me to quit being so damned proud, but it's just not in my blood to be taken care of by others... so I try to live on my own. That's why I almost got killed at the village, the mansion, and even what few fairies are out and about have tried to kill me for real. I've never seen fairies act so hostile toward anything. Ah, but that's all I'll be writing here today, because I am damned hungry after having fasted for two days straight. I'll go see Reimu, I guess. I wonder if today is the day she'll forgive me? Oh, and speaking of forgiving, I've come across Aya and Satori at the Moriya and Hakurei Shrines a lot. I don't see that hatred in their eyes anymore, but I know they haven't forgiven me either... And I very much doubt they ever will, not after all they went through because of my selfishness._

It is a peaceful spring morning when the witch in black and white exits her home, and takes flight on her broom with a grumbling stomach that is demanding some sustenance.

Her hair has finally grown to a length she's comfortable to be seen with; down to her shoulders; but her skin remains pale and stretched due to the lack of food, as even with Reimu's pleas for the witch to act humbly, she still wants to play the tough girl as she always has, and constantly starves.

She flies over Alice's house and looks down at puppeteer working on her garden with her own hands instead of her dolls.

Alice takes notice of Marisa's presence, stands and turns to glare at her neighbor from the ground, but her face looks far more ominous and dark than the black and white one expected.

A very dark aura emanates from the short-haired blonde on the ground; her eyes seem to glow with intense hatred, yet spits no threats, which feels far more threatening.

Instead, she secretly sends Shanghai with a ridiculously long spear, and Hourai with a dark beam readied, both aimed at the hated witch's chest.

Understanding the message, Marisa quietly bows, and then quickly takes off toward the Hakurei Shrine, saving herself from the puppeteer's wrath yet again.

She would love nothing more than to make peace with that girl, but even after a year since the incident was solved, it doesn't seem she'll be able to approach her.

She arrives to the shrine fairly quickly, and as she lands in front of the donation box, she comments "still so few fairies. I'm starting to miss the little buggers. They were fun to blast out of the... Well, what a surprise."

During her lonely commenting, she keeps looking around the shrine grounds, and her sight comes across Aya and Satori, whom are currently standing in front of the Moriya Shrine's extension, and, as it's been the entire year, they are holding hands.

The left corner of her mouth lowers as she looks at them with disgust, and thinks "_geez, these girls are still acting all creepy,_" then smiles and waves at them as she walks to them, and happily shouts "hey you guys! How's it hangin', ze!"

The tengu and satori turn to face the blonde with neutral faces, Satori's looking as particularly unfriendly as ever, and then said mind-reader says "I don't really care if we do look creepy to you, I'm not letting her hand go."

Aya frowns; understandably upset; and loudly says "we don't really give a shit about what you think, Kirisame, so just keep your thoughts to yourself!"

The human raises her hands defensively, thinking she might be attacked again, and says "ara, ara~ Take it easy. Besides, it was just my personal, private observation. It's not my fault she can read my heart!"

The two girls just sigh and roll their eyes, then turn around to resume their joint prayer to Kanako and Suwako.

Marisa sighs, slumps, and then says "whatever. Just stop being so creepy all the time. You're filling the atmosphere with something strange," and as she turns around, she snickers and covers her mouth, then whispers "maybe pheromones..."

* * *

><p>The girls both grin mischievously, let go of their hands to clap and bow, then hold hands again as they turn around with wider grins.<p>

Aya sighs, then casually says "so, Satori-chan, how many gratitude gifts did you get last week?"

Satori coos, and then says "oh, I lost count. They just won't stop coming. So many portraying their gratitude in gifts and letters... I must say, it's almost overwhelming."

The tengu girl chuckles playfully, and says "it's the same for me. I just can't keep up. Though, I have to admit, Byakuren's manjuu is just delectably delicious!"

The mind-reader giggles, and adds "but Miss Miko's and Miss Futo's cookies and cake are to die for! You must try them when you come over again."

There is a quick pause, then she quickly adds "er, if Koishi hasn't eaten them all again."

"Ah, but that's alright," continues the reporter more casually. "The air conditioning is more than enough."

"The heating during winter was just perfect," replies the purple-haired girl. "Remind me to send Nitori a really big 'THANK YOU' letter."

"Could you guys shut up please?" mutters Marisa through gritted teeth.

Aya points at her dear friend and smiles as she exclaims "oh, and how about that dress you had. All silk. Must be worth a fortune. I even heard you got some youkai trying to earn your affection..."

"They better keep away, though~" mumbles the tengu to herself, while still smiling.

Satori giggles playfully, then says "but what about that beautiful new kimono you got? That combination of red and twenty-four karat gold threads got those wolves and crows fighting over who got to speak to you. Even the girls..."

"I'm glad they didn't win, tough," mumbles the satori to herself, smiling to try and hide her annoyance.

The girls suddenly stop the teasing when they see the witch crouching low to the floor and tracing her finger in a circle to her left, lowering the brim of her hat to cover her face, and twitching every time she suppresses a sob.

Being the type of youkai she is, the mind-reader gets closer to her dear girl's ear and whispers "we overdid it. She's crying again."

The tengu reporter sighs and face palms, then moves herself and the purple-haired girl to the witch, and says "sorry, didn't mean to go that far, but we're not even close to being even yet, Kirisame."

Marisa lifts her glowering, tear-filled face, and angrily cries "that's not fair! It's been a year since all of that! Come on, we should be even after all the shit I've been through all this time!"

Satori nods, and then softly says "maybe someday. I really do not believe you have learned your full lesson yet."

"But she will," says Reimu from the donation box, smiling at the girls as she waves, but that smile quickly vanishes when she lays her eyes on her black and white dressed friend.

She sighs and walks over to the blonde, helps her up, realizing she's actually too weak to get up on her own, and wraps the girl's arm around her shoulder, while sadly saying "how many times do I have to tell you? Stop being so damned proud. Your body needs food to work. Just look at you, you can barely stand."

The witch looks away, then is met by two genuinely worried tengu and satori, then narrows her eyes as she looks forward, and says "it's just... more fun to mooch off of you so casually, rather than beg, Reimu."

The shrine maiden clicks her tongue and grunts, but is far too busy making sure Marisa doesn't fall on her face while stepping up the veranda to care, though with Aya and Satori's help, that task becomes a lot easier.

As they eat a surprisingly hearty breakfast, the witch can't help but notice how nervous those two girls look while eating, and while observing how close they get, she asks "so, what's wrong with you-?"

"It's nothing. Please, don't mind us. Just enjoy your meal, and let us enjoy ours."

Satori's interruption was clearly defensive, and not wanting to cause any trouble the black and white one simply looks down at the food before her, and wolfs down everything on her plate, and pick at Reimu's as well.

"Quit that. I served you plenty," complains the maiden in red and white, doing her best to suppress her own urge of stabbing her long-time friend's hand with her chop-sticks.

There is a short moment of silence between them, so Reimu takes the chance and asks "so, how are things over at the Youkai Mountain? No problems, I presume?"

The jittery tengu drops her chop-sticks on the table when she tries to answer, but it's not until her satori friend places her hand on hers that she sighs and calmly replies "ahem, y-yeah, things are ok. Um, actually, since the shift, the hermit's dojo is now closer to that of that prince girl Miko's. Nothing serious, but you might want to look into that."

The mind reader scratches the back of Aya's head, making her smile blissfully and glance upward, as though being in another world, then says "I've been there many times now, and I can tell you, it's not exactly like Aya-chan remembers. The gods are starting to walk around and mingle some more, but most of the youkai and fairies keep hiding in their houses, and the kappa seem a little too aggressive still. I heard that white wolf tengu complaining about getting Aya's mail being a hassle for her."

The crow girl giggles after the satori youkai stops scratching her, and adds "yeah, even though the Kappa have that mail service, they are still being very aggressive to anyone getting too close to their village."

The shrine maiden hums and holds her chin while she analyzes what's been told, then asks "and the Moriya Shrine? How are things there?"

"Things are as fine as ever," says Sanae from the open entrance as she glances around the room until she sees Marisa, and mutters "oh, she's here," then quickly clears her throat, and with a scowl says "things are just fine over at my shrine. It's the mountain dwellers themselves that are still getting used to the new layouts."

Marisa heard that muttering clearly, and at first, she thinks "_I'll get you, you bitch. I'm going to Spark that spoiled-rotten, self-absorbed brat straight to hell._"

But then she looks at Aya and Satori, her anger becomes guilt, her eyes hide under the shadow of her own hair, and without finishing her second meal, she springs on her feet and says "thank you for the wonderful food, Reimu. I have to go now."

The shrine maiden watches quietly while her friend leaves, and notices how the tengu and mind-reader wish to say something, but neither does.

Instead, to everyone's surprise, Sanae coldly says "hey..." waits for the witch to look at her, and more calmly says "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Marisa smiles, feeling so much gratitude for Sanae's apology, and exclaims "what? Oh, don't worry about that! I'm used to it by now. Besides, I forgot I have these experiments to take care of..."

She mounts her broom before leaving the veranda, lightly kicks off the ground, waves at all present, and says "anyway, I'll be seeing you all later, ze. Reimu, it's ok if I come by tomo-?"

"Please do. I'll be making eggs, so look forward to that," quickly says the Hakurei Maiden, to which the blonde grins to, nods, then takes off to the air, thinking "_man, she apologized. For some reason, that felt really good._"

* * *

><p>Instead of heading home, Marisa decided to take a more scenic route, and is currently flying around the Misty Lake as she heads over to the Youkai Forest.<p>

As she looks down and takes notice of the lack of fairies trying to get in her way, she thinks "_the lake's finally thawed out completely. Those icebergs took a whole year... Ahh, the fairies should be out already, trying to attack me, or something, but there's nothing. Not a youkai in sight either. I wonder...?_"

She raises her flight height so much, she starts feeling cold enough to freeze to death, but by doing so, she is able to safely fly over the Scarlet Devil Mansion, where Meiling, Koakuma, and a legion of fairies seem to be waiting for her, ready to attack the moment she's in range.

As she looks at those hateful glaring faces, she thinks "_they're still this pissed, after all this time? But look at them all, ganging up on me like that. Is this...?_"

She moves on as fast as she can, and descends when far enough from the mansion to avoid getting frozen to the death, which is much more prone to happen due to her lack of body fat from lack of proper eating.

She quickly finds herself flying above the Youkai Forest, looks down to the ground that is empty of all but grass, dirt, some rocks and a few flowers, and thinks "_it's like a ghost town. Seriously, where are the-_"

A mischievous grin takes her face when she hears the giggles from some naughty fairies headed her way, eager to attack her as part of their usual pranks, but the second one of the fairies recognizes her, she screams "it's the monster girl! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Marisa's smile quickly becomes a sad frown, and then she tries to call for the stupid little fairies, and scowls furiously when she realizes what she is doing.

She then takes notice of the changed Youkai Mountain, and again frowns as her guilt escalates.

The Moriya Shrine remains at the top, as it's always been, but now it's higher up than before, almost reaching Heaven, making accessing it from there a breeze.

The entrance to the Tengu Village is now hidden behind the small forest surrounding Kasen's Mansion/Dojo, and the water that made the waterfall now trails through said forest from the north, enters a cave where it turns to the east, and falls where it always should, though now it covers the Kappa Village even better, thanks to the new shrubs and rose bushes that grow behind where the water crashes on the river.

She swears she can even see Miko's Dojo a mere fifteen feet to the left of Kasen's, but she's not certain of that, since she can't really tell if she's looking at a building, or a mirage.

The world suddenly flashes before her; the trees are dead, the ground is dried and has taken a purple color, the fairies running away from her have become decaying little monsters with their eyes covered in some black slime that oozes all the way down to their open, rotting mouths.

The shock of the sight causes her to lose her control of her magic and her broom, and falls hard on the ground, where she first rolls like a ball after trying to soften the crash, but ends up rolling sideways before crashing against the thick root of an ancient-looking tree.

She winces and groans as she gets up and holds her back from the pain, then stops everything when a realization hit her.

She's sitting in the undead world once again, and the tree she just crashed against is swinging its branches around.

Before the witch can react she is smacked by a flinging root, then is caught in mid air by two of those zombie fairies, and before she realizes this, a third one comes out of nowhere and tries to bite her neck, but gets her shirt's collar instead.

The human blonde whimpers and her body starts thrashing on its own when her mind desperately screams "_they're eating me! THEY'RE EATING ME! I need to run. **I need help**!_"

In her desperate thrashing to escape being eaten by zombies, the little monsters grip her shirt and black vest tighter then rip both off with ease after the biting zombie fairies tear through the fabric with their teeth.

Her white brassiere is on full display, but her mind is too preoccupied with running away to safety and the fear coursing through every inch of her body, and now her limbs seem to be working on their own, taking her somewhere safe; or at least she hopes that's the case.

Marisa runs for her life, whimpering with every desperate pant, and then finally, after gathering enough will power, she loudly calls "**HEEEEELP! SOMEBODY! REIMU, PLEASE! Zombies! Zombies are after me!**"

She falls on her face and skids to a halt, moans as she slowly lifts her head back up, then her eyes become filled with terror upon the sight of the zombies Minoriko and Shizuha Aki, both dripping yellow ooze from their mouths, standing naked before her with holes on their chests and stomachs, displaying their shriveled rotten hearts and stomachs, and moaning out loud as they reach for the blonde witch.

Kirisame yelps with every desperate breath she takes as she gets back up on her feet, pulls her Hakkero out of her pocket, and desperately shouts "**get back! Get back the both of you! **G-get... b-ba-"

Her miniature reactor spits a mere cloud; she being too nervous to properly use her own magic; and upon seeing this, all her hopes of survival fade, tears start rolling down her cheeks, she unconsciously drops the octagonal object, and she desperately whimpers "this is madness! S-someone help me. Reimu... Aya... Satori."

And now that she finally understands what she has truly done, her tears come mixed with her fright and a frightfully terrible realization.

But she's strong, and as frightened as she is, she thinks to herself "_you have to survive! You have to survive this, so MOVE YOU BITCH! **MOOOOOOVE!**_"

She quickly takes off on her feet, manages to summon her broom to her hand, her skirt gets tangled in the hand of one of the thousands of undead creatures with sharp teeth, rotting exposed, brains and massive sharp claws digging their way out of the ground, yet she ignores as it is ripped off her waist, and jumps on her broom as it seems to take flight on its own, not caring that she's now flying around an Undying Gensokyo in nothing but a white bra and a pair of bloomers.

Meanwhile, back in reality, where the naughty fairies hold Marisa's plucked shirt and vest as they stare to the sky in shock, the short-haired brunette fairy in green says "all that just form holding her by the shoulders? Man, we've gotten good."

Shizuha and Minoriko, whom are perfectly fine and clothed, raise an eyebrow as they look up to the sky, then the goddess of bountiful harvest sighs, and angrily says "what's her problem? We only came because she was crying for help. That was really rude of her."

The goddess of turning leaves smiles and coos as the gets Marisa's shirt from the fairies, hums a tune while going for her skirt, which happens to be stuck on a low tree branch, then looks at her sister and says "come on sis, let's return these things to her."

"Yeah, yeah," reluctantly replies Minoriko as she picks up the Hakkero from the ground, stares at the wooden octagon, then grins and says "hey, maybe if I kept this, I could assert my dominance over all those pathetic gods that keep getting in my way to becoming the most loved and powerful god in the world!"

Shizuha punches her sister on the head, and angrily says "we are not thieves, little sis. Come on, that poor human was scared. She probably needs our help, **and** her clothes."

The little sister rubs her own head as she takes flight after her older sister, while angrily muttering under her breath "stupid onee-chan. It's not even autumn. We shouldn't even be out here."

* * *

><p>Marisa continues her desperate flight for her life, and reaches the Myouren Temple grounds when something strikes her from above and sinks its claws on her shoulders, cutting her delicate human skin and making her bleed immediately.<p>

The unseen creatures seems to be a rotting sparrow with a stretched, purple curved beak, sharp curved claws, and is oozing some green slime on the human's bare skin.

The witch cries out in pain and tries to grip the claws causing her discomfort, but when she does she loses control of her broom and falls to the ground, where she rolls several times before crashing to a halt against the right-side wall of the Myouren Temple's grounds.

She breathes through her teeth as she holds her right shoulder after such an impact while keeping her eyes shut for her own mental preservation, wanting to ignore the undead world trying to kill her, then something small climbs on her shoulder and screeches next to her ear, causing her to scream like a frightened child.

"Miss Marisa! It's alright! Please, calm down!"

The unsettled witch in underwear holds her head after Byakuren removes her hand from the girl's shoulder, pops her eyes open as she continues to breathe and whimper through her teeth, and looks around with unhinged eyes, still unable to notice the magician monk and Nue standing in front her.

"Heheheh. Look at that. She's like some sort of nervous little rabbit just **begging** to be eaten," mischievously says the undefined one, getting a scowl, and a forehead-flick from Byakuren; though she just chuckles while holding her head after her punishment.

The Youkhrist turns her attention back to Marisa, kneels in front of the unsettled girl, and while waving her hand in front of the blonde, she softly says "Miss Marisa, you are at the Myouren Temple. This is Byakuren speaking to you. Please answer me of you acknowledge what I am saying."

The witch manages to move her yellow eyes to meet with the monk's light-brown eyes, and suddenly the world around her is back to normal, with some green grass on the side of the healthy-brown roads, the trees have leaves, her body is clean, save for some dirt stuck on some sweaty spots, then she jumps on the gradient-haired woman and embraces her tightly, knocking her own hat off and not noticing.

As she does, Hijiri can feel the blonde shivering while suppressing some whimpers, and then the mischievous Nue laughs and says "wow, I never thought I'd see the day when this little bitch acted like such a scared and spoiled little child."

Instead of the expected punishment, Byakuren sternly commands "Nue, get back inside and inform Shou Marisa is with us, and is in desperate need of sustenance."

The woman turns her body to glare at the youkai, and darkly says "and another remark like that to our guest, and I'll have you give _your_ share of lunch to this human, you understand?"

The undefined girl smiles to hide her annoyed embarrassment. After all, she hates getting scolded so coldly by Lady Hijiri, but still, she pushes her luck, and nonchalantly says "you do know she's the one that caused so much grief to every-"

"You all have to learn to let those unneeded feelings go. Forgive, and forget," sternly interrupts the magician monk before turning to look at the witch's right shoulder, and softly adds "she's already been punished enough for that, even though you don't see it that way. Oh, and please have Ichirin prepare the first aids. Her shoulder is hurt pretty badly."

Even the youkai girl winces when she notices Marisa's bleeding right shoulder, all swollen and black; maybe even broken; and without saying another word, the girl rushes off, but stops halfway to the temple when she hears a loud "**HEEEYYY~**"

The Aki sisters have reached the temple in record time, and as they land, Minoriko loudly says "there she is! Seriously, running off like that, and naked to boot. How indecent can humans be!"

Shizuha lands behind her younger sister with Marisa's clothes on hand, stares at the scene before them, and then says "how lovely. A mother and daughter bonding so well.

Byakuren can only giggle after that odd observation, then happily says "welcome to my temple, young deities. I see you have this human's clothes with you."

The sisters aren't really sure if that woman is being sarcastic or not, and just stare at each other quietly, each wondering when the other will comment on that.

* * *

><p>An hour later, inside the temple's guest room, Marisa has finally calmed down, though not enough to keep her shaking left hand steady, spilling lots of her green tea on the floor and her skirt before it can reach her mouth.<p>

She winces when Ichirin taps her shoulder with a cotton ball to get the last bit of blood cleaned off, and then continues her shivering and attempted drinking afterward.

The hooded girl is obviously treating the blonde against her own wishes, evident in her disapproving frown, and while she applies the bandages, she says "you know, you are _veeeery lucky_ you fell down here, **AND** with Lady Hijiri present. I would most certainly be doing something else rather than being here treating your wound like this. I'm only doing this at her request."

The blonde girl moves her shaking head to meet with Ichirin's eyes, shows the youkai the painful sorrow of new forced wisdom in her own, and softly says "I'm so sorry. Please... f-f-forgive me."

The sincerity in the girl's voice catches the youkai girl completely off guard, and she is currently unable to think of what to say, then she remembers how easily Byakuren forgave the witch, even when she didn't really mean those '_I'm sorrys_' from before, then sighs and says "I see. Well, I suppose I can forgive you now. I mean... it's been a year."

Marisa smiles, her shaking hand relaxes a bit, then she nods, but before she can speak, from the door Nazrin says "well, I guess we can really forgive her now that she means it. It was pretty uncomfortable sharing a body with Master, but I guess that's back there in the past."

The tiger youkai pats her subordinate's head and says "at'ta girl," then aims her smile at the witch and says "it's just like Lady Hijiri said. You have experienced the pain you've caused to the others. Then again, maybe you're just being a crybaby from all that lack of nourishment, yes?"

The witch scowls, but for some reason remains silent and turns her head to look at the ground beside her thigh, then her gaze is presented with a cutely-wrapped-in-pink container and her Hakkero, both held by one hand, and when she looks up, the Bishamonten representative graces her with one of her best smiles.

"Here, some leftovers from today's lunch. Murasa said she doesn't mind. You know, she's been working non-stop on fixing that new flying ship of hers. *Sigh* But you don't care about that, do you?"

Marisa gulps lightly, shakes her head, then softly says "sorry. I'm really sorry, for everything I caused."

Shou sighs, gently pats the witch's head twice, and leaving her hand on the girl's head she sighs and says "it's not us you should be apologizing to. We have forgiven you. It's those two. You have to apologize to them, or you'll be feeling trapped for a very long time.

A few minutes later, the blonde witch is fully clothed and on her broom on her way straight home. No more detours for her until she's sure she's perfectly fine.

Before reaching the Human Village, she can see Seiga still treating Yoshika carefully at the outskirts of said village, gently touching her zombie-servant's shoulder while saying "come on, it's been a year. How can you still remember that?"

The Jiang-Shi looks at her master with a puzzled gaze, and then asks "remember what?"

The blue-haired girl smiles and asks "so you're not angry at me anymore?"

The jumping zombie glowers, then says "oh yes I am! Seiga Nyan Nyan is MEAN to me! Yoshika is mad again!"

"ARGH! But I've apologized so many times! But wait a minute, you just said you don't remember me biting you, so why are you mad?"

Yoshika looks at her master with that confused stare, and asks "you bit me? Really? KYA~ Seiga Nyan Nyan loves Yoshika~"

The sudden change in the undead girl's mood leaves the blue-haired hermit rubbing her own head in confusion, though accepting the sudden rush-hug with a smile, and the blonde witch chuckling softly at the sight, then both onlooker and blue-haired master gasp with shock and surprise when the jiang-shi bites her master on the shoulder, and coos "I love Seiga Nyan Nyan!"

It is obvious the wicked hermit wishes to speak, but her eyes go blank, and she's suddenly jumping around with her hands raised.

Marisa wisely decides to ignore them and continues on to the village.

As she flies over the village, she notices how empty the roads are, and what few people, whom are currently on the market area, keep glowering at her; those that can are taking flight and preparing bullets; stop buying food and supplies to keep their eyes on her, and will probably head straight home after she's gone.

She remembers how busy that particular area used to be, and how many stores there should be, and this knowledge starts taking its weight in her heart as she remembers what Eirin and the others said about many of the humans dying; some after having had the antidote injected, but had lost all their food and died hours later due to starvation and thirst.

She lowers the brim of her hat to hide her face, then speeds on over to the Forest of Magic, saving herself from the imminent attack from the hateful humans, whom, to her, have every right to strike her and take her life.

She flies over Kourindou and thinks of going down, but she is yet to muster up the courage to meet Rinnosuke eye-to-eye, and like always for the past year, simply keeps on going.

As she flies home and has calmed down enough, she thinks "_Hakurei, Moriya, Myouren, Aya and Satori. The only places and people I can show my face to, and yet I wish I didn't have one to show anymore. More and more I wish I had died, spare myself of this living torture. ARGH! What the hell am I thinking? No, these people have taken care of me. Morbid thinking is not a good way to repay them. I owe them, especially those two! Even when they haven't forgiven me, they still help me. Haa~ I better stop thinking these things before I go mad... Ah, home sweet home! Can't wait to get on my bed and sleep away the rest of the day._"

After landing in front of her home, she promptly heads on over to the door and enters the safety of her house as quickly as she humanly can.

The inside of her house is depressingly empty, save for a few scattered, useless toys, precious stones, a stone tablet, and other collected items lying on the ground or her couch. (_The house is empty, Kirisame_.)

As she looks around the inside of her home, a painful memory takes her mind; something that happened a mere week after Eirin had administered the antidote:

_A group of villagers and fairy maids led by Alice, Koakuma, and Sakuya, stormed into the witch's house while she was struck by a strong hunger fit that left her immobile on the floor._

_Without allowing her to ask, they pushed her against the farthest wall of the living room and nailed her to it with a magical sword she had conveniently lying next to her._

_Alice gave the order to all to take everything that belonged to them, and all Marisa could do was watch as they took so many of her collected items._

_At the time, she was still as arrogant and possessive as ever, and demanded **her** things to be returned, but nobody listened, and Sakuya even placed a charm on her lips to shut her mouth after the tenth claim._

_After half of the things "borrowed" were taken back by their owners, including the innumerable amount of books from Patchouli's library, Sakuya pulled the sword out of Marisa's shriveled stomach, allowing the zombie-like witch to fall, and said "and if you come back to the mansion, we will not hesitate on using lethal force."_

_Her wound healed almost instantly, but she remained on the ground, hungry, thirsty, and still feeling the pain of the sword on her stomach, and the pain of her shattered pride in her heart._

Marisa closes her eyes and shakes her head, probably attempting to forget that memory, then starts remembering images of herself, only three months after she had been cured of that zombie effect and lost her immortality for good, returning every other item she had stolen back to their owners at the village in a desperate attempt for redemption.

_She got glares, rocks thrown at her, but she still returned the items, and that's when she went to the Moriya Shrine to return some figures, books and CDs, where she was accepted by Suwako and Kanako, and saved from starvation once again._

She drops on her knees and whispers "I'm sorry...", then thinks of Reimu, Patchouli, Nitori, Aya, Satori, Alice, and soon finds herself going mad when her mind is filled with images of Satori and Aya looking desperate, filled with bloody cuts everywhere, running around in their underwear and screaming for help.

The silence in her house isn't helping, and feels as though its forcing itself inside her brain through her ears, and all she can do is grip her hair and pull hard, hoping the pain will distract her mind.

"**I'M SORRY! FORGIVE ME ALREADY!**"

She knows she's screaming at the top of her weak human lungs, but she can't even hear herself nor feel the vibration of her scream, and all of a sudden her house starts spinning around her, flashes, and becomes other locations.

The zombie-infested Human Village, the deserted Tengu Village, Byakuren's Monster Ship, Kasen's small, but dangerous monster-infested forest, the darkened Scarlet Devil Mansion, the disgusting zombie-filled Underground City, and so on do the images continue changing, until the human magician can take no more and collapses, thus her house turns back to its normal state.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the pale witch flies desperately straight to the Hakurei Shrine, and almost crashes when she lands at such insane speeds.<p>

Because of the momentum, she runs straight to the back of the shrine, heads directly toward the gazebo, but stops abruptly, falling on her face after doing so, when she fails to find the expected girls there.

She lifts her head, mutters incoherent words, looks around with terrified eyes, and then whimpers "Satori? Aya? A-anyone there? ...Reimu?"

Though scared, weakened from the hunger, and seemingly uncertain of her actions, Marisa pushes herself on to her knees, blinks twice as she looks around, takes a deep breath, then softly says to herself "no zombies. I'm not dead. Nobody's here. Someone say something..."

"Marisa?"

The blonde witch whimpers desperately as she crawls away from the source of the voice, corners herself against the gazebo, then turns around to face Reimu as said maiden looks down with a confused and very concerned face.

The shrine maiden quickly takes notice of what is going on, and knowing how to treat the situation from her experience with Aya and Satori, she bends her knees, raises her hand at the girl, and looks her straight in the eyes.

"Marisa, this is Reimu, the **real** Reimu Hakurei. I am not going to bite; I am not going to kill. You have to trust me. Now listen to my voice, ignore everything else, and look at me."

The terrified girl slowly lifts her shaking head to meet with her friend's eyes, and after locking sights, the black-haired girl softly says "good, good. Now listen carefully. I want you to reach for my hand, and hold it. Trust in me and hold my hand."

Marisa continues to stare at her friend, slowly reaches for her hand, then launches herself into the arms of the shrine maiden, and loudly cries "REIMU! I'm *sob* so sorry! I did it! I really did it! I didn't know! Those girls *sob*! One day! *Hic* How could they survive so long? I have *sniffle* apologize, and-"

"There, there," Reimu coos softly, gently wrapping her arms around her friend's neck while combing the back of her head with her fingers.

"You went through what they did, but only for a day, and you almost lost your mind. You have felt their pain, but the most important thing is you learned your lesson. I am sure they will forgive you now. Now, calm down. You are strong my friend, but you have reached your limit. Calm yourself and remember where you are."

As she holds the crying witch against her chest, Reimu looks up at the tengu and satori youkai standing behind the black and white, holding each others' hands, then smiles while thinking "_same as you two. She's definitely lived through your experiences. I just wish I knew how._"

Satori smiles, whispers to Aya what the maiden had just said, then both nod, and the mind-reader softly says "I'm not sure, but... yes, I can see some form of subconscious tampering in there."

Marisa opens her eyes wide, quickly turns around to meet the two girls she's been looking for, then launches at them and holds each by the hip to stop herself from falling between them, and blubbers, cries, whines, and generally tries to apologize through desperate tears, which happen to be staining their skirts.

Reimu looks at the whole scene with both pity and disgust, and says "geez, I never thought I'd see Marisa acting like this, and only because she's really living what you girls lived."

The youkai girls just look at each other, sigh, then Aya says "jeez, and she's only experienced it for a day? Well, if that's the case, then I think we can forgive her."

The blonde witch stops her crying, looks up at the girls with those bloodshot eyes, while Satori pats her head as she would her pets, and says "yes, now that you have lived what **we **lived thanks to your greedy experiment, I also believe we can forgive you."

Marisa cannot believe what she's hearing, and with every breath, her attempted smile becomes stronger, and stronger, until she finally lets the girls go, drops on her hands and knees, and while looking at the ground, she shouts "you forgive me! THANK YOU! Thank you so much!"

The shrine maiden face palms, sighs out loud with frustration, and says "oh boy, what a mess this girl is. I can't even tell if this is really Marisa anymore."

The mind reader clears her throat, bows her head when the red and white dressed girl looks at her, and softly says "she was seeing you, me, and Aya-chan as zombies until just now. She needs to unwind, or I fear she'll break."

Reimu composes herself, gets closer to her friend and rubs her back, causing another set of shouted "Thank yous", and loud sobs to escape the mentally struggling girl.

* * *

><p>After a much-needed breakfast of eggs, rice and vegetable soup, the tengu and satori convince the blonde witch to walk with them to the Human Village, and after they wave at, and say their goodbyes to Reimu, the two girls take the lead, while the ordinary wreck of a magician slowly follows after them.<p>

After the long and awkwardly silent walk down the shrine's stairs, Marisa seems to finally snap out of her morbid world, and softly asks "so, why are you taking me to the village? Are you... going to kill me there?"

"Goodness. What kind of talk is that? Of course not," replies the genuinely surprised Satori, who moves closer to her friend, and whispers "she actually **wants** us to finish her off."

The two girls suddenly twitch, grab each other's hand, and after a sigh, Aya says "no, Marisa. We don't want to kill you. We want to help you."

There is obvious confusion in the blonde's voice, and then the mind-reader says "we meant it when we said we forgive you. Now, we want to help you regain your life, to some extent."

The tengu chuckles, and quickly adds "we know you like being the tough girl; the individual that can take care of herself, so we'll use our small influence, and try to convince the humans to at least let you shop for food. That's a start, right?"

Kirisame lowers her head, looks to the ground to her left, and mutters "well... since the mushrooms I... still not growing... And I miss my favorite snacks..."

The two girls in front chuckle, causing the blonde to blush, and now continue their way to the village through the dirt road, which now has a few newborn trees and bushes growing to either side.

After a few minutes pass, the curious witch stares at the girls' held hands, then asks "say, um, I was wondering. Why are you two holding hands so much? Are you a couple now, or something, ze?"

The youkai girls look at each other, blush a bit, start to giggle, then Satori says "heh-heh, maybe."

They can both see the confusion on Marisa's face through the corner of their eyes, gasp softly after realizing she's genuinely curious, then they stop and turn around, and not letting go of each other for even a second.

They look at the human before them with a serene, yet stern gaze, lift their held hands up to face height, then Aya begins "It's been a real pain in our asses trying to readapt to our old life, Marisa. We, to this date, are still scared of everyone."

Satori hums with a nod, and continues "like you, we are having visions of that world you created. We can't sleep when apart, too afraid to close our eyes without having each other to watch our backs. No, I still cannot trust my own family, or my pets, to this day."

Guilt starts creeping back into the witch's heart, evident by the look of sorrow in her eyes; not that that guilt ever left her in the first place.

Before long, the tengu girl continues "the hallucinations, or what we **HOPE** are hallucinations, won't stop unless we are holding hands like this. We feel safe, just as you felt safe when you were holding on to Reimu."

The blonde human lowers her head, completely covering her face with the brim of her hat, while thinking "_she's right. When I held on to Reimu the images all stopped, and I felt so warm. So... it's the same for these girls too._"

"Yes," begins the purple-haired girl. "That's how it is for us as well. If we let go, like say, right now, we'll see you as a zombie with a whole army of zombies behind, trying to eat us alive. That, *shivers* has never left our minds, even after a year."

Marisa drops on her knees, bows until her forehead touches the ground, and cries "I am so sorry. I will never be able to make it up to you, but I promise, no more world-scale experiments, so please, accept my apology!"

She suddenly feels two pressures on both sides of her head, and when she looks up with that dirty forehead staining her face, she sees two clawed hands with decaying skin, patches of flesh torn off, dripping brown-colored bodily fluids, and closes her eyes tight and whimpers.

Instead of the expected mixture of cold pain, she feels warmth as those supposed claws start rubbing her head very gently.

When she lifts her head again, she is greeted by the smiling Aya and Satori, both which are treating her as one would a scared animal, and then the mind-reader says "we already told you, we forgive you."

The tengu chuckles and says "that's right. Now get up. We're not some gods looking for followers."

Marisa manages to smile, gets up on her own and dusts her skirt, knees and forehead, then gulps the rest of her tears down and softly says "hai. Sorry about that. J-just can't seem to get a hold of myself z-ze."

The purple-haired satori pulls the blonde next to her as they resume their walk, and softly says "we know, Miss Kirisame. We both know how all of that feels as well."

* * *

><p>It's been so long since Marisa was able to set foot safely inside the village, she hadn't noticed the many changes in the buildings, which now look far more clean, neat; maybe the word should be modern; and the large gaps between said houses, a fact that's reminding her of her foolishness, and what it cost the humans.<p>

She is kept right in front and between Aya and Satori, and can see how the smiles of the villagers greeting said girls from the safety of their houses turn to hateful glowers when they notice her in the middle.

Regardless, the two girls wave back and reply to the greeting, while pushing the nervous human toward the market area while whispering at her "trust us, they won't hurt you."

The blonde magician has no choice now but to trust the girls, seeing as she's too far inside the village to make a safe escape, but continues looking around with fright, knowing well what would happen if those two decide to betray her.

The mind-reader places a gentle hand on her head, simulating a mother's touch and calming the human down, and says "we won't do that, so just relax. Trust us, from today onward you'll be living your life again, just how you like it."

Before Kirisame has a chance to analyze what she's just been told, she's pulled to stop after reaching the market area.

It's so empty, compared with how it used to be, before her selfish experiment.

The number of kiosks can be counted with two hands, several of the larger stores are boarded up, two have been completely destroyed, but there's no sign of either even being attempted to be repaired, while the rest, which can also be counted with just two hands, look far more modern and sturdy than before.

Still, as nice as they look, there is a looming sensation of sadness and anger in the whole market, and that's when she notices the many people there glaring at her, some preparing bullets, while other grasp whatever they can in preparation of an assault.

Both Aya and Satori let go of their hands to stand between Marisa, acting as though nothing is happening, then they wave at the people while Aya casually asks "well hello everyone. Say, what's with those faces?"

A young man in a brown, long-sleeved kimono shirt and light brown pants approaches the girls, and in an anxious tone says "Miss Aya and Miss Satori, you know you are always welcome here..."

He points at the blonde between them and apprehensively says "but **SHE** is another matter entirely! Thanks to her, our numbers have dwindled! If it weren't for youkai like you and Miss Keine, our village would have been wiped clean of all humans by now. Please remove this monster from our sight, or we'll remove her by force!"

Angry cheers rain down on the girls and their "guest", but a quick raise from both girls' hands quiets the mob, then Satori bows and says "we understand you concern, and most definitely understand your hatred toward this girl, but you should listen to what we have to say."

Aya coos playfully, taking the attention of the whole village, and says "look, let's cut to the chase already. People, it's been a year. This girl has been punished long enough. True, it took the both of us this long to forgive her, but if **we** can do that, so can you."

Confused murmurs surround the girls, and now Marisa, who was crouching and covering her head with her hands, slowly uncurls and looks around at the confused humans.

The mind-reader chuckles, and then says "I know it's very surprising, but it's the truth. We feel this girl has learned her lesson well, and would like to ask you to forgive her, and, at least, to let her come and buy some supplies."

The tengu pulls the witch up on her feet, holds her by the hip while rubbing her head like some kid, knocking her hat off in the process, and says "that's right. This poor girl has been living like a starving wanderer for a whole year now. She's truly sorry for what she did, and has promised she will never do something so stupid again; will you Marisa?"

The terrified blonde doesn't even notice she's being treated like some child again, and shakes her head hard, nervously saying "noma'am! *Gulp* I won't do it again. I... really am sorry."

Even the more upset-looking humans seem to have a change of heart when looking upon that pathetic, fearful expression in Marisa's face, that unhealthy pale skin that's literally on the bones, and those glazed and distant, bloodshot eyes.

"I... guess I can ignore her. I mean, it has been a year," says a woman at the back of the crowd.

"No way! She cost me my SON, and my grandfather! She can **starve** for all I care," quickly shouts a young man from nearby.

"Ah, but just look at how pathetic she looks." "But it's all her fault!" "Gragh! Maybe we've been too harsh." "We're better than her. I say, let her come."

Finally, after some debated words, the majority of the present villagers agree, then Kotohime walks out of the crowd, walks toward Aya and Satori approaches the blonde witch, though does so without raising suspicions or alerts, and stares at the magician.

She raises her arm, sliding her long-sleeve back to present her hand, and remains looking sternly at Marisa, who stares at that hand for a bit, until suddenly accepting the shake, and cautiously taking her hand forward.

The shake becomes solid when the two girls meet eye-to-eye, then the self-appointed police princess declares "Marisa Kirisame, the words of Aya of the tengu, and Satori from the underground have reached us. You are allowed into the village, **BUT**, for the time being, you are only allowed into the market place to purchase food and supplies."

The redhead looks at the tengu, then at the satori, then back to the witch, and sternly adds "take too long, or try going somewhere else without my supervision, and I will put your ass in jail faster than you can say '_Master Spark_', you got that?"

Marias's eyes water as a smile suddenly takes her face without her notice, and while still holding Kotohime's hand, she looks around and suddenly cries "I'm sorry. I know it's not enough, but I'm so very sorry for what I did."

The police princess just sighs loudly, then says "right, right, just cut off the waterworks, jeez," causing the witch to cry some more, then shouts "no, seriously, this is getting awkward! ARGH! STOP IT! Everyone's looking at us!"

Aya and Satori watch the scene unfold before them, smiling as they do, blissfully unaware that they aren't holding hands, and that the world around them isn't changing so drastically before their eyes.

* * *

><p>That evening, Aya opens the door to her house, turns around to wave at Momiji, who stands some several feet away from the crow tengu, and calls "thanks for the company. I really appreciate it."<p>

The white wolf girl sighs as she forces an awkward smile, and says "y-yeah, it's nothing. Um, any chance you'll start acting like your old self again? I mean, I like it that we're getting along so well and all, but I miss my trying to bite you now and then."

A jolt of fright curses the black-haired girl again, but this time she manages it well, smiles nervously at her friend, and casually says "erm, please don't bite. I-I don't think I'm ready to react properly to that."

A large drop of sweat rolls down the back of the white-haired girl's head as she chuckles nervously, places her hand on the back of her head, and nervously says "uuu~! Right. Let's not forget how you almost tore my arm off just because I bumped on you in that Hallow...thing feast."

Shameimaru sighs, slumps, and says "right, right. I'm sorry about that. Anyways, I'm heading in. Bye."

Momiji's goodbyes are muffled after the crow tengu closes the door behind herself, and said crow can hear her friend leaving in a hurry.

Aya turns around and presses her back against the door as she releases a long and loud sigh, then feasts her eyes on the two large brown sacks on her light-blue couch on the living room, and the surrounding, beautifully gift-wrapped boxes that sit neatly around the bottom on that couch which, along with a whole living room set, was gifted by the Myouren Temple and Human Village.

She smiles at the sight of the gifts and sacks, and walks straight to them, thinking "_more apologies and gifts. Somehow, seeing this makes me feel all we did was worth it. I mean... who could have thought humans, youkai and gods would be so grateful to us._"

She opens one of the sacks and pulls out several letters, some pastel blue, some made to look like flowers, some are pictures of how harvests have been progressing, and there is one letter made to look like a sunflower with Yuka's handwriting on it, reading "I'M SORRY, SO STOP BEING ALL SAD."

The tengu girl chuckles after recognizing Yuka's letter, and says "I never knew she had such a loud conscience. It wouldn't surprise me if she came over to beg for forgiveness one day."

She processes the though while holding her chin and looking up at the ceiling, then chuckles while shaking her head, and says "nah! She's too proud for something like that. Maybe Satori-chan and I should go visit her soon."

She sighs again, drops the letters, grabs one of the gifts wrapped in white paper and a sparkly ribbon, stares at it with glints in her eyes, tears it to shreds in an instant, and discovers a bath set with scented oils.

Her smile widens when she sees this wonderful gift, and is quickly in her bathtub surrounded by bubbles in a sweet-smelling tub filled to the brim with soothing hot water.

She sighs with delight as she raises her left leg over her right one, turns it around as if exploring it with her eyes, giggles when thinking about Satori, maybe doing the same as her, then lifts her other leg and lets her entire upper body sink underwater.

After her bath and dinner, Aya walks into her rebuilt room, wearing a white bath robe that's open over the chest and right leg, exposing bits of her bare body through slits.

The room has been painted light-yellow with brown leaves fluttering to the bottom, she's got new drawers and a cabinet, elegantly designed and painted in white and gold, a beautiful dresser with a large mirror, her new bed is full-sized, dressed with beautiful silky pink sheets and red covers, all gifts from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and because of Nitori's air conditioner cooling the air inside the house, for the first time in an entire year, the tengu girl feels compelled to try out the unused new bed.

She walks closer to it, passes her hand over the silky-soft sheets and covers, smiles, and says to herself "that's right. Since Satori-chan isn't here, I cannot sleep... and yet, I'm feeling *yawn* a little relaxed. I wonder..."

She thinks of the day she had, remembers Marisa's face when she and Satori forgave her, the gratitude in the witch's eyes when they helped her with the villagers, and smiles.

Aya sighs, sits on the bed, and whispers "I felt such a weight leaving me then. Maybe it's that."

The world around her flashes, her room is still a grey, destroyed mess, bits of her clothes are still scattered around, that dead-looking Momiji is standing by her doorway, then everything flashes again, and her room is back to its remodeled state.

She rubs her eyes, sighs, and then says "well, that didn't affect me that much this time. I think..."

The crow girl drops on her bed, her eyes start to close on their own, and she softly says "I think I can *yawwwwwwwwwn* ...I can finally sleep a few winks." (_But don't forget to keep your senses sharp!_)

She ignores that voice in her head as she drifts to the world of sleep, and even though the world flashes and becomes an undead wasteland for a second, her dreams go undisturbed.

* * *

><p>At the same time, at Chireiden, Satori arrives home and upon opening the door to the mansion's living room, her favorite spot, she is greeted by two open sacks of letters, and several opened gifts, sitting around the large red couch in the center of the room.<p>

She smiles, chuckles softly, and says "her third eye may be opening up every day, but she still acts like such a child. Heh-heh, but I wouldn't have her any other way."

The world flashes before her eyes, the couch and gifts are gone, replaced by decaying animals glaring at her, snarling softly and readying themselves to pounce.

She stares nonchalantly back at the monsters, casually lifts her third eye, closes her own, and when she opens them again, she finds Koishi standing before her, smiling and waving while calmly saying "welcome home onee-chan."

Satori lowers her eye, takes a deep breath, and as she sighs, her little sister says "wow, you didn't shoot. Onee-chan, your mind is finally healing! I can see it! WE SHOULD CELEBRATE!"

The young Komeiji's third eye is now open wide enough for the green iris to be seen, but it has stopped opening up, even though Satori wishes to ignore this fact, and now the young satori youkai is able to deal with both conscious, and subconscious minds.

She grabs her elder sister's hand and pulls her to the couch while excitedly saying "come, come! You have to tell me all about today! Shame Miss Aya isn't here. She needs to unload so much!"

A tear of overwhelming gratitude rolls down the purple-haired girl's cheek as she smiles and says "Koishi-chan, thank you so much for everything."

The grey-greenish-haired girl stops to look at her sister behind her, coos out loud with delight, grabs the elder Komeiji and holds her tight in a happy embrace, and happily says "I'm so happy! You've made me so happy onee-chan!"

Right after sitting on the couch, and before the conversation can begin, Okuu cheers "SATORI-SAMAAAA! Satori-sama is home! Orin, come," dives from the ceiling, and lands sitting next to Koishi.

She leans over to reach for Satori, grabs her hand and pulls her closer to kiss her forehead, then Orin suddenly appears sitting next to the elder Komeiji, hugs her from behind, pulls her away from Okuu, and asks "welcome back Satori-sama. How are you feeling today?"

Koishi is certainly annoyed, and grumbles "we were about to go into **that** before you two came in, and ruined OUR time together!"

The kasha scowls and quickly stands before the young satori and says "well sorry for being concerned about Satori-sama! Besides, she's not yours alone! She's our Satori too!"

The two girls crash foreheads together and push each other's faces back while growing, and the young Komeiji says "well you can go elsewhere for now! Let me help onee-chan today! You can have her tomorrow!"

Okuu steps up and stands besides the two girls, holds them both by the shoulder to get their attention, and with tears in her eyes and after several cute sniffles, she cries "don't fight in front of Satori-sama! You-you'll scare her again!"

Satori suddenly starts to cry on the couch, placing a finger on her lips while holding her stomach and scrunching up as though in pain, then all three girls panic and shriek at the same time.

"AAHHH! SATORI-SAMA, I'M SO SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE YOU SO MUCH!" shouts the concerned-to-the-death Orin, while holding herself back from trying to hold the purple-haired girl and scare her more when trying to comfort her.

"I'm sorry onee-chan! Please don't cry anymore! Please, please, pleaaaaaaaase!" shouts the nervous Koishi, who bows repeatedly before kneeling on the ground and offering her hand to her sister.

"Waaaahhhhh~ We made Satori-sama cry again!" cries the hell raven while rubbing her teary eyes at a safe distance.

Satori goes on and on until she finally sniffles once, chuckles, flicks the tears from under her eyes, then giggles "no-ho, I wasn't heh-heh, crying."

She gulps to settle herself down, looks tenderly at the worried girls stepping around the letters and gifts; missing crushing them by inches; and after a sigh she says "I was laughing. I was... I was just laughing. Just watching you three go on and on like that made me so happy, I couldn't contain myself.

The world suddenly flashes, and instead of the tree youkai girls, Satori see three vicious zombies staring at her, drooling and dripping fluids from their open rotting bodies, but instead of freaking out, she sighs and says "oh my, I see you like zombies again."

After she blinks, the world returns to normal, and Koishi stands in front of her with focused eyes and her hands both hovering around her slightly opened third eye, and when she notices her older sister is looking at her quizzically, she asks "everything better now?"

The elder sister stares at her younger sister for a bit, smile, nods, then launches herself for a surprise hug that catches Koishi, Orin and Okuu so off guard that all three are knocked to the ground by the mind-reader.

The purple-haired girl resumes her laughing fit as she holds the confused girls pinned to the ground, then Orin looks at Koishi and softly asks "um, did her mind break completely?"

The little sister can only shrug while shaking her head, then the elder mind-reader breathes in a lot of air to calm down, sighs, then says "I think forgiving Marisa and helping her like that has lightened me up, girls. I think that's all I needed."

Okuu helps all the girls up with ease, Satori drops on the couch after her legs wobble a bit, then she looks up at her sister and pets, smiles, and says "it appears I've tired myself out. Um, could you please take me to my room, so that I may rest?"

The girls all glance at each other repeatedly before Orin leans over to help Satori on to her feet, and as she lifts her master up she says "alright, but I won't let you go to sleep without taking a bath first."

Koishi coos, and then happily says "try out the bath supplies sent from some place called Eientei! They make the bath so much better!"

After her bath, the mind-reader sits on her bed and watches as her kasha walks out the room, but before said girl closes the door behind her, she peeks inside and asks "are you sure you're alright Satori-sama? You don't need anything, right?"

The purple-haired girl gives her pet that old, warm, and missed serene smile only Satori can give, and softly says "no, thank you. I'll be alright. Thanks for asking."

Orin's cat ears twitch as she smiles back at her master, nods, then closes the door, leaving Satori exploring her own bed to admire the purple covers and lilac silk sheets gifted by the Scarlet Devil Mansion, as well as the new pink end table beside her bed, gifted by Miko and her followers, then the girl yawns loud and long and accommodates herself against the pillows.

The world flashes before her eyes again, and instead sees the colors of her room turning gray, scattered pieces of old paper floating around, a hole on her room's roof, then blinks once, and as she expected, the hallucination stops.

She glances around one more time after covering herself up, the cool air from the air conditioner starts working its magic, and as she drifts to sleep, she says to herself "this really is it. I am really back home." (_Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled._)

The girl seems to ignore the voice, and quickly drifts to the world of sleep with a relaxed smile on her face.

* * *

><p>Soon after the girls fall asleep, they both find themselves flying above Gensokyo, and although they recognize their home as such, it looks a little different; both beautiful and horrifying.<p>

In front of them, the very ground shines with a wondrous light that seems to change at random, accenting the beauty of the grass, the flowers, the fairies giggling by, and their home feels like the paradise it really is, while behind them, the land looks bleak, the ground looks purple, the sky is black, and blood and rotting innards adorn the landscape.

They ignore that world that's behind them and look at each other in the eyes, then quickly fly toward each other, laughing happily as they do, and crash head-on to end up in a wonderfully gentle embrace.

As they hold each other tight, the terrifying world behind them gets pushed back, further and further away, a beautiful ghostly image of Marisa flies below them, repeating "thank you very much; thank you very much," and starts releasing a rainbow behind her broom.

The two girls look at each other, sigh, bump foreheads together, then both say at the very same time "**we're back**..."

The very next morning, Momiji is patrolling the area near the new caves behind the waterfall with a dull and straight face that would frighten all trespassers, when her right ear twitches, and she immediately moves toward the right side of the mountain.

Her face becomes intense as she unsheathes her large scimitar and approaches a moving bush that should not even be there, lodged between two stones, and after spotting such an eyesore, she snorts and quietly moves in for the kill.

She raises her sword and swiftly swings it after reaching the bush, then "**Ayayaya!** As sharp as ever!"

Aya's blur jumps right out of the bush the very second Momiji's scimitar was to touch it, and is now perched on the only tree behind and above the wolf, who sighs irritably, and darkly says "you. You are not allowed here. Don't make meeee**EEEEEEEH?** AYA?"

The crow tengu's face reveals how free the girl feels; with that confident grin adorning her face and accenting her bright eyes, but now even the wolf can see the painful lesson learned through hardships inside those very eyes, and while looking at the black-haired reporter, she exclaims "a-are you alright? Wait, what am I saying? What happened? You look so radiant all of a sudden! Er, wait, you still can't be here!"

The reporter's gaze causes the white-haired girl to gasp when she sees both an old, annoyingly cocky and overly energetic Aya, and a more mature, wise and softer Aya.

The crow tengu smiles at her partner, then looks away toward the Hakurei Shrine, and says "I am not sure what happened. I just feel so... free. The visions, they're still there, but they're not really affecting me. They no longer have a hold on me!"

The shocked Momiji can only stare in awe at her tengu partner, not sure of whether she should be doing her job and scaring her away, or just let her speak some more, and that's when she notices the yellow messengers' bag to Shameimaru's right.

Aya chuckles softly, and without turning her gaze away from the shrine, she says "yes, I started printing again. The good, pure, and honest Shameimaru is back! I just came back to let you know we can start quarreling again if you like... and to tell you..."

She turns her gaze back to the white wolf, who blushes as her lips wriggles after feeling something warm and fuzzy tickle her heart the very second those eyes meet with her own, and says "thank you for everything, Momiji, and I am sorry I was such a pain to you all this time."

The white wolf's tail frizzles up for a second, but the girl manages to settle down, sheathes her sword, and after a quick nod she says "no, it's alright. I-I'm just glad you're feeling better."

A smirk takes Momiji's face as she straightens up, places her fists on her hips, and says "and I'll let you go without a fight this time, but next time you better bring some spell cards."

The black-haired tengu closes her eyes after a soft scoff, then takes off while shouting "I'll remember that, just don't take it to too seriously!"

Inubashiri can only smile as she watches that girl fly away, and then says "guess she broke free on her own, Hatate-san."

Hatate walks out of the nearest cave, chuckling goofily while rubbing the back of her head, and says "that's one heck of a nose you got there. But yeah, it seems so."

She stops when three feet away from the white wolf tengu, crosses her arms under her chest, and says "I saw her acting so energetic this morning I got worried, so I followed her here, and, like, what do you know, she's all back to normal again."

The white-haired girl sigh, wraps her right arm around the brown-haired girl's shoulder, and says "you know, I'm actually very glad. I really missed her."

The crow girl chuckles softly, and then admits "yeah; me too."

Meanwhile, at Chireiden, Satori walks out to her backyard with a red wheelbarrow, potted flowers of several varieties; all with a seal of quality from Yuka pasted on each pot; a water pale inside said barrow, bright eyes, a relaxed smile, and new pained lessons forever imprinted in her eyes.

She stops in front of her gazebo to look around her garden, sighs at the sight of Koishi's, Okuu's and Orin's hard work at reviving and maintaining that garden, then softly says to herself "they are such sweethearts, all of them."

When she starts rummaging around the wheelbarrow for the spade to start making holes, the door to the mansion opens up, and Okuu, Koishi and Orin cautiously walk out of the mansion, all looking a bit sleepy and worried, then, after a heated whispered discussion, Orin snorts and says "alright, I'll go first, **then** you follow."

The cautious kasha slowly approaches her master, who crouches down with a potted bluebell and softly says "it's alright, Orin, I am alright. Sure, I still see that other world, but it's not really affecting me anymore."

Orin's lips force a smile on her face as she gasps with excited delight, then exclaims "so you're better? You don't hate us? You're really feeling better, right?"

Koishi approaches her sister, crouches beside the elder Komeiji, and then gives her a light hug while softly saying "onee-chan, I'm so glad. You're finally free of that. I'm so *sniffle* happy!"

The mind-reader turns her face to look at her little sister, stuns her with that new radiance of hers, and returns her sister's hug while saying "aww, please don't cry. I really am ok. It's the truth. You can see it, I know."

The young Komeiji can't help but sob and kiss her sister on the cheek repeatedly, then Okuu crash-lands to their lefts and cries "**Satori-sama is baaaaack! She finally forgives Okuu!** I'm so happy," then grabs both girls in a bone-crushing hug that leaves them breathless and groaning as they demand oxygen.

Orin watches the girls crying and giggling happily, quickly gets jealous of the other two, then jumps toward the group hug while exclaiming "hey, I want to hug Satori-sama too!"

She knocks them all down to the ground, but gets to snuggle against Satori's chest, then purrs "Satori-sama~ I really missed you. Welcome back!"

The purple-haired girl extends her arms, wraps them around Koishi and Okuu, pulls them together so that she can scratch all their heads at the same time, and while closing her eyes, and with a motherly coo, she softly says "it's good to be back, my dear girls. It's feels very good to be back."

That same day, nearing noon, Aya and Satori find each other above Eientei, where Reisen, Kaguya, and several rabbits wave at them while on their way to the Hakurei Shrine, grab hold of each others' hands, then speed up toward their goal.

Reimu sits by the steps to the shrine's donation box, and smiles as she looks up at the girls, and taking quick notice of their eyes, her smile widens, and she hurries to greet them as they land in front of the gate.

As soon as the girls land, the shrine maiden places both hands inside her sleeves as she holds them under her chest, and asks "so, how does it feel? Are you fully free, or...?"

The girls chuckle, then Satori says "it's just as you are thinking. We are still getting those flashes, and the voice keeps saying things, but ever since we got Marisa's weight out of our shoulders, we've been feeling so free."

Aya smiles as she nods at the shrine maiden, and says "maybe one day the hallucinations will go away, or maybe never. One thing's for sure. We both feel like ourselves again, and we are very glad for it."

Reimu smiles, turns around in a playful manner, and then says "I can see so many things in your eyes now. So much peace and serenity, even after all that had happened. I am very happy for you two."

She starts walking toward the living quarters, and then chuckles playfully before saying "come. It's been a while since you two, particularly you, Shameimaru, came to eat inside and chat about things, and I wish to speak with you. I've been wanting to talk to you two for a whole year now."

The mind-reader giggles, nods, and says "sure, we can tell you about it, can't we, Aya-chan?"

The tengu girl blushes as her eyes meets with her dear friend's, but manages to calmly say "right. I believe we can have a special interview with our Shrine Maiden of Paradise."

And so, the girls head inside the shrine, where they will talk about some special details of the horrifying adventure those two girls lived through; details Reimu is eager to learn about.

* * *

><p>That night, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Marisa sits in front of one of the library's desk beside Patchouli, and has several books open before her, and even more fairy maids targeting her head from all around.<p>

The mansion's insides, as expected, have been fully restored, but the fairy maids are still very aggressive, obvious in the glint coming from their vicious eyes, and yet they all manage to aim all that anger at the one human they want to viciously murder, and the one human they can't touch unless she does something to incite an attack.

The black and white witch is infinitely grateful to Remilia, whom, for some odd reason, let the blonde back into the mansion with nothing more than a burning flick to the forehead.

Marisa stops her reading for a moment, looks at Patchouli, places a hand on the purple-themed magician's shoulder, and says "you don't know how grateful I am to all of you for allowing me inside again; after all I have done to you."

The librarian can't help but feel uncomfortable and estranged by the new Marisa, whose eyes are filled with maturity hard-forced into her, whose face looks so serene and light she very well may be someone else, and whose attitude has changed from being an overactive, explosive, cocky nuisance, to a calm, collected, and thinking individual, it's like she was reborn after just a full-night's sleep.

The purple-haired magician wants to pull that hand away, but decides not to, and softly says "y-yeah, right. Um, are you sure you are Marisa? Even your eyes seem so different, it's like I'm looking at another Reimu. A blonde one."

The blonde blushes, turns to face the books with a straight, cold, and unnerving stare, then coldly says "I'm not sure anymore. I don't know who am I, why I'm still seeing these things, and who is this voice. I don't know anything anymore. Even though I'm no longer afraid of the visions, or that voice, I still want them gone, and I'm sure those three girls want that too."

Patchouli yelps softly as she stares at the blonde human with fright, and thinking she's not yet been seen, manages to compose herself then softly asks "three? Don't you mean two? Unless you're talking about Aya, Satori and yourself-"

"We are connected, Patchouli Knowledge. You should know that."

Marisa's voice sounds wise, serene, almost ancient, and though her eyes seem distant, they also reflect present knowledge, and by just turning her head slightly left, the robed girl can see there is no fooling this human as easily as before.

"I know you know of this. It's the reason she let me in here in the first place, and it's the reason you knew what books to fetch before I even asked. All four of us are having hallucinations. We can hear that voice, even in our sleep, we all know things we should not, and all of us have had the urge..."

Marisa's eyes glow red, at the same time as Aya's and Satori's, all the way over at the Hakurei Shrine, where they are having a friendly chat with Reimu, and somewhere in the darkness, another pair of eyes glow red.

The black and white witch notices the fear hiding behind Patchouli's seemingly calm eyes, and softly says "don't worry though, it's not strong, for any of us. We can keep it under control. I still want it gone, so please, I am asking you to help me find out what's causing this, so that we may rid of it."

Patchouli is not sure what to say at the time, looks around at the vicious-looking fairy maids all over the library, sighs, then looks back to her guest and says "alright. I will help."

The blonde grins and says "you were still going to do it, even if I didn't ask."

The purple-haired girl smirks, and softly replies "just make sure not to steal my books. I assure you, these maids aren't shooting your regular danmaku, particularly at you."

Again, the blonde girl grins as she tips her hat up, then says "hey, those days are over. The only way I'm taking a book now is if the need is too great. ...You do understand what I mean, right?"

Patchouli throws her eyes onto the book before her to hide her current confusion, then says "e-um, of course. I-I understand."

Marisa's grin widens, becoming as annoying as it was before, knowing she's just outwitted Knowledge without really trying to do so.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the rebuilt and fully restored main hall, the ever-elegant Sakuya Izayoi walks over to her mistress with a silver tray holding tea and a piece of cake, and neatly placed to the right of those, a rolled-up, slightly used newspaper; the Bunbunmaru, to be precise.<p>

She reaches her mistress' side, bows and says "your tea, My Lady," then leans over to place the drink and treat on a small round brown table to the left of the throne, then personally hands over the newspaper.

"Sakuya, what is this?" asks Remilia in an unpleasant low tone of voice.

The chief maid narrows her eyes, making herself look motherly, and says "there is something there that is of interest to you, My Lady. I apologize beforehand for reading it before you, but the tengu delivered it directly to me, and-"

A simple raise of a hand from the vampire is enough to quiet the frightened maid, and then the young-looking mistress opens the paper on a page marked with a blood-red heart on the corner, and reads:

"This message is intended for Remilia Scarlet. Yes, I printed this one copy just for you, so don't worry about all of Gensokyo seeing this. ...I fought your sister and beat her up really bad, and she beat me up too. No, I'm not demanding anything; I just want to ask a favor of you..."

Remilia's eyes glow bright, betraying the calm look she's trying to put up as a front, and Sakuya, being directly connected to her mistress due to the Master/Servant blood ritual, can feel the rage boil up inside her lady's heart.

Regardless of what she's feeling, the vampire continues reading:

"That girl went through something horrible, Remilia. Flandre needs you, and from what little we talked I am sure you locked her up in that room of hers the moment you got home. Please, talk to her. She's not the little monster girl you think she is. Interact with her, get to know her, and help prevent something like this, like what happened a year ago, to happen again. That girl just wanted to prove to you how much she's grown, but the way she chose to do it was through power, and that backfired in a terrifying way, for her and all of us."

Remilia's eyes settled down, and Sakuya can feel the Mistress calming down, and instead of rage, she starts to feel a very faint sense of guilt and sorrow.

The vampire lets out a quick sigh, then continues reading:

"You had control of that cauldron when it was weak, when it wasn't sentient. We were. Both Flandre and I succumbed to it, and **It** controlled us. I am not lying. Go ahead and talk to her, she'll tell you all about it. It was vicious; it made us feel terrible about ourselves, while at the same time made us feel powerful and indestructible. It played with our minds, filled it with images of grandeur, even when we ourselves could see the reality of things. We both fought hard against ourselves, but thanks to Flandre, I was able to defeat my own dark side."

"Sakuya," coldly commands Remilia, to which her chief maid bows and says "I understand. If you need me, I'll be waiting for your call."

The young-looking vampire smiles, lets out an almost inaudible chuckle, and then says "always so well prepared and ready. Thank you. I should be back by dinner, and hopefully in one whole piece."

With that, she jumps off her throne and makes her way to the basement on foot, while thinking on the rest of the letter from Aya.

"When she woke up, she was herself again, and I knew it; no, I felt it! She was scared! Just like me, she wondered what she had done, what had happened. She wasn't sure if she was herself or that other self. We were scared, Remilia, I know it because I experienced it, and she wanted you the most! She called for her father and mother, and you, many times. ...I promised her I'd help her somehow, and after all this time, this is the best I could come up with. Please, pay more attention to her. Talk to her. She needs you. She's probably going through hallucinations as you read this. Won't you go to her and comfort her?"

When the vampire comes back to, she finds herself in front of the door to her little sister's room.

She stares at the steel door with disinterest, thinks long before making her next move, then starts unlocking the new padlocks and undoing the sealing spells, all placed there as punishment for the blonde vampire's prior actions.

She slowly opens the door, making a light creak as she does, and can hear an accelerated heartbeat and a soft whimper coming from the room's closet, where a pile of dolls and stuffed animals lie.

As she closes the door, Remilia admires how surprisingly clean the dark room is, how nothing, not even the dolls and toys are broken, unlike before.

The large full-sized bed's sheets are placed neatly on the mattress, the small round dining table that stands to the left of said bed with its white chair properly placed next to it is in one piece and clean, the dresser's mirror is intact, there are no clothes on the floors, and even the walls have been cleaned of the usual moss that grows on them.

After admiring her nervous little sister's room for long enough, she calmly admires "wow Flan, you really have outdone yourself. You room, it's so clean. When did you do all of this?"

The toys in the closet shuffle, but the little sister doesn't reveal herself yet as she softly hisses "the fairy maids helped. I was nice to them, and they helped me without pausing until it was all clean. I helped too, and they were glad. I didn't break them. I was good, onee-sama."

Remilia twitches when she's suddenly struck by a memory of Flandre crying while desperately shouting "_I have changed! I know how to treat our maids now! I swear, I won't break them anymore. Please, let me help you onee-sama! Just give me a few maids of my own so that I can show you!_"

The blue-haired vampire growls inward while clenching both fists so tight, she cuts her own hand with her claws, and blood starts dripping to the floor.

She now feels the guilt of not listening to her sister when she had the chance, and thinks "_she told me so many times, and I just brushed her away each time. Ironic that the last time we spoke of this, Marisa's stupid potion turned us into monsters, and then all of this happened. Grrr, that bitch. She better find that cure, or I'll-_"

The mistress' thoughts are soon halted when she feels her sister's hands gently holding her own, and before she can ask what is going on, the little sister starts to treat the cut on that palm with a cotton ball, being surprisingly gentle at it, while softly saying "look what you did onee-chan. *Sigh* Hold still while I treat this. I don't care that we are vampires, we still need to take care of our bodies."

Remilia feels strangely warm, fuzzy, and very uncomfortable having her sister; whom she thought was a destructive force to be feared; treating a self-inflicted wound as gently as a motherly human would for her child.

"Come," softly says Flandre, breaking the awkward silence in the room, and then gently pulling her older sister to the bed, where it will be easier for her to get the first aid materials set on a white end table next to said bed.

This warm and fuzzy feeling is clashing hard with the mistress' cold and hard nature, and because of this, she's suppressing a snarl while breathing softly through her mouth.

Flandre notices this, and knowing about her sister's pride, she coldly says "don't get any funny ideas. I'm still mad at you. Just think of this as a 'sorry' for all the things I did."

Remilia snaps out of her own selfish thoughts, and immediately remember what she went in there for, and softly asks "Flan, are you still having those hallucinations? Is that voice still there?"

The blonde vampire smiles as sinisterly as she used to, her breath becomes a bit erratic, and even so, she keeps treating her older sister's cut hands very gently as she coldly hisses "they are always there, onee-sama. They never leave. True that, since yesterday, they have become more bearable, but they are still there."

She giggles after wrapping her sister's other hand with the bandages, and as she gently sets it next to the blue-haired vampire, she continues "that voice keeps telling me I have to be careful; of you, of Sakuya, of the maids, but I know better."

Tears start rolling down the girl's eyes and cheeks as she begins to hyperventilate and sob, but continues, crying and sobbing "but I know *sob*, I know it's lying! *Hic* It wants to set me against you, make me destroy what I've worked so hard to achieve! I won't attack you, or our servants!" (_Don't you mean slaves, little girl?_)

"**SHUT UP! They are SERVANTS, not SLAVES!**"

The little girl grips her head and sinks her own claws into the skin, and uses the pain to fight off the maddening, mocking voice inside her mind, and after she calms down she loosens up and slowly releases herself while saying "stupid voice, calling my family 'slaves' like that. I hate it. I want it gone!"

Remilia stands tall next to the younger vampire with a glare that could break steel walls in a blink, which frighten to blonde into thinking "_oh no! I made her mad at me! She's going to punish me!_"

Flandre starts to sniffle when she decides she's not going to defend herself from Remilia, then gasps and opens her eyes wide when, instead of the expected beating, she gets a gentle embrace.

The elder Scarlet has wrapped her arms around her sister's ribs and neck, and is pressing the little girl's face against her chest.

"Onee-sama?" questions the confused vampire, and then the mistress softly says "I am sorry Flan-chan. I didn't listen to you before, and look at what happened. You have grown quite a lot, and I just forgot about you, ignored you, belittled you. I have been... very unfair to you."

Flandre gasps and hurriedly says "no, wait *sniffle*, onee-sama, it's ok! Y-you're not-" but Remilia stops her with a gentle shush and a soft brush on her side-ponytail and says "no Flan, I have to accept this wrong, and fix it."

She helps her little sister straighten up, takes her to the bed and sits her there, then starts nursing the claw wounds on her head with the first aids while saying "you're right. We may be vampires, but we should take care of our bodies too."

The little sister remains silent from the shock, and after a minute of comfortable silence, and that warm and fuzzy feeling form her older sister caring for her, said vampire says "I haven't been there for you when you needed me, but that's all about to end. You can count on me from now on, Flan-chan. If that voice and the hallucinations keep bothering you, you tell me, and I'll do what I can to help you."

At first, Flandre is uncertain of whether she's in a dream, another hallucination, or something else, but the feeling of having her older sister caring for her, talking to her, spending some time with her, overwhelms her quickly, and she ends up crying like a lost human child.

Remilia closes her eyes and embraces her little sister, wondering why is she not scolding that girl for acting like such a weakling, but the guilt of neglecting the girl for so long prevents her from doing so, and just takes it all, and even holds the crying girl tighter against herself, hoping she will calm down soon.

The elder Scarlet sighs, gently shushes her little sister, and then softly says "come with me to my room. Sleep with me today, and tomorrow night, let's talk, and you will show me first-hand how much you have changed. Show me what a lady you have become."

Flandre sniffles once more, embraces Remilia in a bone-crushing hug; literally; then says "thank you, onee-sama. You won't be sorry, I promise."

(_And so ends another day for all of you. How nice. Well, you know something? You are resting because I allow it! Keep your guard up, ladies, for you're in for one hell of a ride, and you get no say in the matter! But relax. I am patient. I will bide my time, wait for my chance to strike when you're all at your best. I am fair, so I'll give you a fighting chance. Ahh, but when I come, when I strike, you will wish for your deaths right off the bat, that much I promise you all!_)

As the voice quiets down, and the world stops flashing, Aya, Satori, Marisa, and Flandre sleeping next to her older sister, all comfortable in their beds, inside the safety of their homes, the warmth of their rooms, sleep peacefully, all with smiles on their faces as they think on what to do on the next day, content on the fact that they are back home with their loved ones, safe from unwelcome monsters and zombies, never to be bothered by sentient cauldrons made to create horrifying immortals...

Or are they truly?

* * *

><p>Undying Gensokyo, THE END.<p>

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenarios belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

FEB 14 2012

Written by

Willie G.R.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Sorry I took so long to post this, but after writing the ending for both Icicle Sukima AND Undying Gensokyo, one after the other, it appears I needed a break, and I took it. Read a few things, played a few games, had fun, and now I'm back. Now, I need to finish reading some more things, then it's off to work on the corssover, so rejoice, REJOICE I say, those of you that have been so patient to see how it all continues! Rest assured, I'll make SURE the wait was worth it. Oh, but before the first post of that, I have also been neglecting Almost Pirates, and after a surge of random comedic inspiration, I will tend to that quickly :D.**

**Thank you kindly for reading this far. Take care, and see you on the next story.**


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